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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/conversationsondOOIindiala
i
ThcKEV^THlROFHILUS LlNDgEY,M,Ao
CONVERSATIONS
ON THE
DIYINE GOVERNMENT;
SHiEWlNC THAT
EVERY THING IS FROM GOD,
AX D
FOR GOOD, TO ALL,
AND GOD SAW EVERY TIIIXG THAT HE HAD 2WADE,
AXD BEHOLD, JT WAS VERY GOOD.
GENESIS i. 31.
BY
THEOPHILUS LINDSEY, m.a.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. VAVh'S CHURCH-YARD.
1802.
rkiNTSO BY BYX. A.VD LAV. .T. JOKfo'd SQJ.'ARr, C! 1 f.KENWELL.
TO
Mrs. SOPHIA and Mrs. FRANCES CHAMBERS,
IN CUATITUDE FOR UNWEARIED OFFICES OF THB
MOST DISINTERESTED FRIENDSHIP, FOR NEAR THIRXy
YEARS, TO HIMSELF AND MRS. LINDSEY, FROM THEM
AND THEIR WORTHY BROTHER, NOW ALAS ! INSEN'
SIBLE OF ANY TRIBUTE, THOUGH EQUALLY DUE ; AND
IN TESTIMONY OF THEIR ENLIGHTENED ZEAL FOR THE
WORSHIP OF THE ONE TRUE GOD, AND A CONSTANT
UNOSTENTATIOUS READINESS TO DO GOOD; THIS VO-
LUME OF CONVERSATIONS, THE RECOLLECTION AND
THE FRUITS OF THE HAPPY REPOSE AND LEISURE,
ENJOYED IN THEIR DELIGHTFUL SUMMER RECESS AT
MORDON IN SURRY, IS MOST RESPECTFULLY IN-
SCRIBED,
JY THEIR VERY AFFECTIONATE FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
A 2
PREFACE,
The following work refults from the
ftudy and experience of a long life,
devoted principally to the fervice of the
gofpel. From diligent refearches into
the true meaning and fpirit of the
facred writings, the author has been
led to various deviations from the creed
of the eflabiiflied church : his opinions
have, at different times, been laid before
the public ; and, if the difcouragements
attending the profeflion of his faith
have been very conliderable, he is happy
and thankful to have lived in a coun--
try, where not only fuch appeals have
been practicable, but he has been fup-
ported by feveral pf his countrymen,
who renouncing the errors of their
A 3 education,
Viii PREFACE.
happieft Hate,- a full confidence and
fatisfadtion in the never-ceafing love of'
their maker and God, the following
remarks, imperfect as they are, are
committed to the candour and ferious
attention of the benevolent reader.
^VRITERS
WRITERS A-SD EMINENT CHARACTERS
Il|iFE|lIl£X) TO,
Page
ABRAHAM, - - S2. 71— 75. ITI. 174— 176
Adam, -'.--_.. €3
Adams, William, - - - - 165 — 167
d'Alembert, ----- 18. 136. 138
Barrow, _ , - _ - - 16
Beaufobre, - - - - . - -137
Bekker, •- .210
Belfham, Rev. T. - - - - - 217
Blomefield, - - - - - ^55
Boyle, _ . 16
Burnet, Bifhop, ------ 37
Burthogge, 147
Cain, -.-_,.. 66
Caligula, - 120
Callimachus, - - - _ --157
Cappe, Rev. N, - - . - - . 155
Caracalla, - - - - -- -120
Cicero, -^----i-.gs
Clarke, Dr. S, -- . - - . 2
Commodus, - - - - - -120
Pavid, ....-_ 84. 167
Day, authpr of Sandford and Merton, - - 123
I^ijah, --__.,. 67
Enoch - ■*- - - - . - es
Eve, -- 63
Findlay, Dr. ' - 8
yiowcr, B. - - 3
Fiederick
ITRITERS AND EMINENT CHARACTERS
Page
Frederick of Pruffia, - _ . > 134 — 136
Frend, W. 15?
Grotius, - - - . . _ 79 — S3
Hagar, - 171
Hallet, Jofeph, 9a
Hobbs, . - - * - _ - lis
Hume, 163 — 166
Jofeph, S2. 146, 147
Jofephusy ---►-._ 167
Joftiua, --.--_. 82
Ifaac, - * 171
Ifhmael, --.--._, lb.
King, Archbifhop, - . . . _ 117
Law, Bifhop, ----_. lb.
Lee, John, Efq; -..-.. 140
Leibnitz, 134
Lincoln, Bifhop of, - - - _ - 158
Locke, __._.. 64. 149
Lot, 75
Lucian, 169
de Luc, 157 — 160
Maclauiin, - - - - - _ . 16
Maimonides - - - > - . 83
Marcellinus Ammianus _ . _ _ 9
Martin, J. Efq; - - - - - - SO
Maferes, Baron, 140
Maurice, Rev. T. - - - - - 160
Melchizedeck, 71
Mihon, - 130. 141
Mirabaud, ----^--20
Mohammed, - - - _ . 99 — 103
More, Dr. Henry, - - - - - 144
Morris, vi
Mofes,
5
EEFERRED TO.
Page
Mofes,
10. 33. 62. 74. 76.
78—83. 99. 169
Nero -
- - _ -
120
Newcome, Archbilhop,
^10. 212. 214
Newton, Sir I.
-
70
Noah,
- - _ -
62. 68. 69. 75
Orpheus,
. -
167
Park, Mimgo,
-
101
Parnell, Dr.
„
144
Pafcal,
-
170
Paul,
_ - - -
- - 94.
Plutarch,
.
169
Pope,
-
47, 48
Prieftley, Dr.
. .
84, S$
Shaftefbur)', Earl of, - -
■ . 25—40
Socrates,
- ■ -
87—92
Tillotfon, Archb
ifhop, - -
. 173—177
Turgot,
- 139. 140
Voltaire, - '
.
8. 19. 134. 137
Wakefield -
.^ - -
173. 214
Whichcot, Dr.
...
29
Whitby,
-
110
M^ilberfofte
..
- 217
PASSAGES
PASSAGES OF SCRITTURE QUOTED
OR EXPLAINED.
Page
Genesis V. 24, - 66 John xiii. 2, 27,
1 xviii. 22, 72 viii. 44,
1 — xlv. 5. - 146 Ajfts iv. 25.rr28,
-V. 3, . -
- vii. 2,
- X. , . .
•XV. 18, - -
- xiii. 10,
xvi. 14,
- xvii. 30, 31,
Jlxodus xi. 10, r 145
' xxiii. 31... 33, 83
Leviticus xvii. 7, - 193
JDeut. vii. 1,2, - - 8.3
t XX. 10, 16, - 83
• xxviii. - - 1.0
• xxxii. 17, - 193
Jofhua ii. 9 — 13, ix- 3, 82 Romans i. 18,
^ •- iii. 5, vi. 20, 21, 78 r- xvi. 20,
xi. 19, 20, - 83 1 Cor. V. 5, -
2 Kings ii, 3, r - 67 2 Cor. xi. 14,
Job i. 9— -12, - - 209 1 Theff. xi. 9.
Pf. cvi. 37, 38, - - 194
Eccles. xi. 5. - - 149
Ifaiah xlv. 8, - - 200
Matthew V. 44, 45, - 96
■ xvi. 23, - 203
Pacs
207
208
146
211
176
. 72
. 15
212
145
, 95
. 91
212
2 12
212
3^13
r xiii. 19. 39^, 206
xxv. 41—46, 209
Mark X. 5,6, - - 65
iv. 15, - - 2.06
• viii. 30, . . 203
Luke xiii. 16, xxii. 31, 209
-: viii. 12, - - 206 Jude 6, - - - - 210
xix. xxi. - - 10 . 1 John ii. 13, - - '214
xxii. 3, - -207 v. 7, - - 215
John vi. 70, - - 204 Rev. ix. 11, - - 103
1 Tim. iii. 6, 7, v. 15.
2 Tim. ii. 26, . 213
Hebrews xi. 5, - - 67
— :- r 17—19, 172
24—26, 76
-, r 27,- - . ir
Eph. ii.l, - - - 210
-iv. 27. vi. 11, 213
1 Peter v, 8, - - 214
2 Peter ii. 4, - - 21 T
6—8, - 75
O M I S S I O K.
Page ^1, Insert Conversation the Third.
CO-N^
CONTENTS.
Conversation the first - Page I
The fubje6l of inquiry, that nothing is really and ulti-
mately ill in the flate of man, 4. Indifpofition of many
towards revelation accounted for, 6 ; particularly of
the french philofophers, 7, and Voltaire, 8. Chrilti*
anity really friendly to the interefts of mankind, 9.
Revelations made known by Mofes and Jefus Chrift,
10, 11. Province and defign of miracles, 12. What
is nature, 14; and the courfe of nature, 16 ; the god
of nature not to be lofl fight of, 17. Plain old argu-
ment for believing a god, 18. ConcefTion of d'Alem-
bert, 18; of Voltaire, 20. Reafons for rejefting divine
revelation, 21; how to be refuted, 22. Queftion to
be difcufled at the next meeting.
CON-VERSATION THE SECOND - - 25
The author of the Charafteriftics faid to have little regard
for the fcriptures, 26 ; remarkable proof ©r his vene-
» ration for the creator, 27 ; pains taken by him to print
a volume of fermons, 29 ; educates a perfon to be a
clergyman, SO ; his want of candour towards facred
perfo'tis and facred laws, 3$ y remarks on the exterml-
* nation of the Canaanitcs, S4; his opinion of miracles,
56 ; letter to his young friend, S8 • his fcepticifm and
raillery, S9 ; general view of his charafter, 40. Bene-
volence of the deity affirmed, 42 ; proofs of it in the
1 happinefs
kvi fcONTENfS.
171. Archbifhop Tillotfon's obfervations on the faith
of Abraham, 174 — 178. Farther refleftions on the
fame fubj eft i 178 — 180. Eternity of punifhment con-
•fidered, 180 — 18S. Meaning of words eternal, ever-
iafting, forever, 184 — 186. Dr. Hartl&y's opinion on
this fubjeft, 187.
Conversation the last - - 190
inquiry into the exiftence and interference of a fuperior
evil being, 191 ; no fuch being mentioned by Mofcs,
192. Devils, terms introduced into Our tranflation of
the Pentateuch, without authority, 193, 194 ; terms,
familiar fpirits, equally unjuftifiable, 195, 196. Meaning
of the word Satan in feveral paflages of the old tefta-
ment, 196 — 199; the exiftencd of a fuperior evil
being not to be derived from "^ the old teftament, 199;
whence the jews derived their opinion of him, 200, 201 ;
and how the term Satan came to be ufed by the evan-
gelifts, 202. Meaning of the term Satan in feveral paf-
fages of the new teftament, 203 ; our Saviour exprefled
only the popular opinion on this fubjeft, i205 ; as is
feen by various paflages, 206 — 2 1 1 . The apoftles held
hot the opinion that there was an evil being, 211 — 214.
Archbifhop Newcome and Mr. Wakefield, 215. What
the devil reaHy is,^216. Important conclufions, 217.
CONVER-
CONVERSATIONS
ON THE
DIVINE GOVERNMENT, &c.
VICTORIA TO VOLUSIAN.
T HAVE a fingular fatisfa6tion oftentimes
"*" in recolleeling a Gonveritition which took
place fome 3^ears fince at ******, the country-
feat of our refpeftable friend, in which you
bore no inconiiderable part, and in rriy opinion
came off with more honour than thofe that
were crowned in the Olympic games ; an
honour that, however, not to be attained
without much labour and feif-denial. But
you gained a vi6lory over yourfelf, and many
narrow and' inveterate ^religious prejudices
Avhich you had the courage to renounce, and
notwithitanding obloquy and vartdtis worldly
difadvantages, have ever lirice remained firm
in the profeflion and worlhip of the one true
IS God
2 CONVERSATIONS ON Tl£E
God and father of the univerfe, as prefcribed
and pra6lifed by Jefus Chrift.
In the account of the converfation to which
I allude, it is ftated, that the way of worlhip,
which you, after much inquiry and delibera-
tion embraced, was that held forth to the
englilh nation and to the church of England
in particular, in the
Ameiuhnents humbly propofed to the con-
Jtderathn of thofe in authority/, of the
Book of Common Prayer ■
according to the life of the Church of
England. By Samuel Clarke, D. I),
HeBor of St. James's, Weftminfter,
Such is the modeft flyle, in which this ex-
cellent perfon fpeaks of what had been the
fruits of many years labour and thought to
promote the honour and credit of the efta-
bhfhed church, and a purer worlhip of God
in it*
What farther information may be defired
concerning this valuable manufcript work of
Dr. Clarke, which, after his deceafe was pre-
fcntcd by hb fon Mr, Clarke to the Britilli
Mufeum,
Mufeutti, and depofited there, may be fourtd
irt a Trad, intitled, " Converiations on chril-
tiaii' idolatry,'' from p. 131, to the end —
printed in 1791? for Mr. Jokrifon, St. Paurs
Church-yard.
And I cannot forbear adding that from'
feme facts reported at the clofe of that Tra6-,
it may appear probable, that the pure worihip
of the One true God, might filently and'
quietly, in a courfe of time, have then made
its way * in France, had the firft happy re-
volution in that country proceeded and con-
tinued as it began, and not been followed by
fuch dire and violent convuiiions. It affords
however a pleaiing omen of what may here-
after take place there in more favourable
times. .
But I have run out to a mucli greater
length than I intended, and almoft loit light
of the principal purport of my letter, which
is; that having juft now come to the know-
* Siee the French Conftitution, pp.371 — 375, the 2d
edition, with cortedlions and additions, by Benjamia
Flower.
B 2 le"re
4 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
lege, that you and our common friends, the
laft long vacation, had pafled fome weeks
together, and during the time had fallen upon
the difcuffipn of a very curious and interefting
queftion, and come to an unanimous refolu-
tion upon it, viz. that thejx ?s nothing really
and ultimately ill in the Ji ate of man^ hut
every thing ordered for the heji for all : I
cannot find words to exprefs the fatisfa6lion
I (hould receive in being made acquainted
with the fteps by which you have been led to
this conclufion, and with all that pafled re-
lating to it. I would not give you, 1 Ihould
be afhamed of giving you fo much trouble
merely to gratify curiofity : but it might per^
haps contribute to free me from a hoft of
anxious thoughts that befet me continually,
and oftentimes make life a burden,
VOLUSIAN TO VICTORIN,
rOR one fo much loved and valued aa
yourfelf, I can think no trouble too great,
whereby 1 may give you pleafure or profit,
nor cafl 1 have any referves with you ; and
thcrefbro
DiViNE GOVERNMENT; 5
therefore without further preface I fit down
to tell jou, that the old party of your friends
bieing met together, and lamenting not a little
that you alone were prevented joining usj
after talkmg over for a while the aftoniihing
events of the times we lived in^ we fell into
coniideration of the very low repute in which
the religion of Chriji was every where held,
at home and abroad ; being rejected by many
as entirely fabulous ; and little regarded by
the greater part of thofe who would not be
thought to give it up altogether.
One, who was prefent, mentioned, from
his own knowlege, that a ftiort time before
the French Revolution, a peribn lately filling
a very high ftation, of great worth and dif-
cernment, who lived very much at Paris, ^nd
in the firft circles; and was fo^netimes in
Holland, and other parts of the continent,
where he converfed with the moft eminent
men of different ranks and profelhons^ found
it to be a general perfuaiion among them all,
though it was not his own^ that the chriilian
religion M^ould foon be at an end ;. being ex-
perienced, as exhibited and enforced by pub-
lic authority in all ftates, to be fo irrational
B 3 a lyftem,.
6 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
a fyftem, and holHle to the true interefts and
happinefs of fociety, a$ to be incapable ot
maintmning its ground any longer. What
jfollowed foon after in France is well known.
Nor was this the cafe of thofe called ca-
tholic countries only, where the ftate-religion
.was fo offenfive to every mind in any degree
fnlightened. He tvould appeal to them all,
as they were not ignorant of what paffed
among ourfelves, whether they had not long
obferved, that our eftabliflied articles of faith,
and the worlhip grounded upon them, palling
for the very gofpel of Chriji, had not caufed
many filently to withdraw themfelves, and
take refuge in the rehgion of nature's teach-
ing : aiKl this indifpofition to Chriftianity had
miich prevailed within thefe la(t twenty years,
and was rapidly increafing.
Here (Phoiinus,) interpoUng, replied ; that
he did not like to hear them defcant in fa
defponding a ftrain on a fubje6t, which feemed
to him by no means to call for it ; becaufe
the proilrate appearance of chriftianity in bur
own and the neighbouring countries, and
the hoflility of many to it, might be (hewn
to arife, not from any newly difcovered weak-
nefs
•ilefs or deficiency in its proofs, but from other
caufes which might be affigned ; but prift-
cipallv, perhaps, from the interference of the
civil power, in requiring this rehgion, exactly
as modelled and taught by them, to be. be-
lieved and praftifed by all, under the fevereft
penalties and lofs; tliereby creating preju-
dices againll it ; and alfo hindering all free
inquiry into it, by which alone it could main-
tain its preeminence in the world, if it were
the truth ; and thus turning it almoft in all
places into an engine of flate, to keep man-
kind in flavery and darknefs.
This it was, which fo much excited the
philofophers of France, as they called them-
felves, to oppafe tlie Bible, and filled them
-with a moft um'eafonable antipathy to it ;
being prepoffefled with an idea, that the re-
ligion built upon it, which they found pro-
fefled in their own country, was a fanaticifm
fo hurtful, and fanguinary, and adverfe to
every thing virtuous and friendly to mankind,
that it was meritorious to deftroy it by any
means ; fo that they made no fcruple of ufing
the moft unfair arts, and adopting known
falsehoods, to effe^ their purpofe.
B 4 Of
8 COXVERSATIONS ON THE
Of this dilhoneft dealing, to give it its true
name, you have continual examples in the
writings of Monf. de Voltaire, where, he
touches on the fubjecl ; but his unworthy
artifice, and difingenuoufnefs in this refpe^l
are detailed at length in * Letters faid to be
of feveral Portuguefe, German, and Poiifli
jews to M. de Voltaire, in 3 vols. 8vo. ; but
really written by a learned prieft and do6ior
of the Sorbonne. Mi\ F'mdlay alfo in 1770,
now J)/'. Findlay, the learned Prefident of
Glafgow-college, has well expofed thefe prac-
tices, by which this eminent writer has ftained
, his great abihties, and leffened his charafter.
As the beft things have ever been liable to
be perverted, we muft frankly acknowlege,
for no one acquainted with hifloiy can deny,
that great corruptions have arifen from the
gofpel, and abufes to the word purpofes have
been made of it, and caufed many to think
ill of and condemn it. A fair inquirer how-
ever will confefs that it has always been of
confide rable benefit to mankind, and that it
* Lettres <je quelques Juifs Portugais, Allemands et
Polonois, a M. de Voltaire. A Paris. 1176.
13
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 9
is in itfelf moft friendly to the peace and hap-
pinefs of focietj, as was teftified by a candid
heathen * hiltorian of the fourth century,
upon feeing the diilurbances, to which it in-
nocently gave occaiion, and the murders, and
cruelties towards each other, which the chrif-
tians were guilty of at that early period.
And notwithftanding the prefent indifference,
and defertion of manv, and the ailaults made
.upon the gofpel by its various adverfaries all
along from the firfl, (none more fierce and
Ihbtle than thofe of the prefent day,) we
may not be afraid boldly to maintain, that
it ftands upon a rock, that cannot be fhaken;
viz. upon the truth of this lingle fa6t, of
Jejus, its author, being a divinely authorized
teacher, a prophet of God; which was evinced
and confirmed by the miracles wrought by
him, to which he appealed ; and, principally,
by his being railed from the dead in three
days, in conformity to his own predictions.
The divine authority likewife of Mofes, the
Jewiih law^giver, his predecelfor, was built on
* Ammianus Marccllinus. Lib. xxii. c. 11.
Quie nihil nifi juftuiu Tuadet et lene.
the
10 CONVERSATIOXS ON THE
the like immoveable foundation of a divme
interference, fignified by mighty miracles,
publicly wrought, and recognized by their
effects at the time, in the reception of fuch a
religion, at firft,To burdenfome and irkfome,
by the Ifraelites, not otherwife to be accounted
for, but on the footing of real miracles ;
djfecis, which, if we may fo fpeak, have con-
tinued to the prefent hour, in the rigorous
adlierence of that people and their defc€n-
d,ants to their religion, under the temptations
they have continually been to defert it ; fcat-
tered, moreover, as they have been, and are,
over the face of the whole earth, and moft
unworthily and unceafingly \ilified and ill-
treated as Jews, wherever they go ; its truth
alfo corroborated itill farther by the a6tual
fulfilment of ancient * prophecies relating to-
the difperlion and other circumftances of this
extraordinary people ; not to mention the
atteflation given to their religion from the
* 8,66," to name no others, Mofes^s prophecy concern-
ing the captivity of the Ifraelites, of a State not yet
eredled ; and the exa£t fulfihnent of Chri/i^s prophecy,
not to fay of that of Mofes, in fo many cxadl particulars,
and the long captivity that was to follow. Deut. xxviii.
Luke xi^. xxi.
gofpel
> Di:vil>rE GOyEIi:N^MENT. 11
gofpel being a continuation of one and the
fame extraorciinary plan of divine providence
for the virtuous improvement and happinels
ot the whole human race.
To thefe revelations from heaven by Mofes
and by J ejus Chriji, for the moil beneficent
purpofes, to make mankind virtuous and
happy : it is objefted, that their foundations
fail on being examined, becaufe the proofs
of the interpoiition of the divine Being in
their favour are not to be depended upon,
refiing folely on the tellimony of vi^eak and
fallible mortals, who have in all ages de-
lighted in inventing, liflening to, and propa-
gating ftories of uonderful things, of appari-
tions and communications with their falfe
gods, to countenance their various fuperfti-
tions and idolatrous praftices, and fuch prac-
tices have been too much imitated and en-
couraged by Chriftians thenifelves.
The imputation mufl be allowed to have
fome foundation ; and this credulous turn and
weaknefs ought ever to put us on our guard,
that .we fufFer not ourfelves to be deceived
by faife pretences to a divine extraordinary
power :
1
12 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
power : but it does not invalidate the tefti-
mony of mankind to thofe inftances of it,
which are accompanied with fufficient evi-
dence, and not loaded with any unnatural
contradi6tory circumftances.
It ihouid be remembered, however, that it
is a mifreprefentation of thefe divine inter-
pofitions in behalf of the. gofpel, when it is
alleged, that they are brought to prove the
truth of its docrtrines, of which, unqueftioiv
ably, they are not proper proofs : thofe pri-^
mary truths, for inllance, of Chrift's religion,
and of all true religion ; namely, that G od
is to be loved and obeyed before all things ;
that virtue, or the love of our fellowcreatures,
fo as to feek their happinefs as our own, is to
be cultivated by us: thefe and the like doc-
trines have their proper evidence, founded in
the nature of man and the relation between
him and his Maker, independent of miracles,
which can add nothino; to them in that re-
fpecl.
'&
The proper province and defign of mira-
cles is, to confirm the authority of a prophet
or divine melTenger in what he delivers con-
cernmg
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. lo
cerning the will and government of God,
and men's future deftination, where their
natural light and • faculties fail them. And
in this view, for this purpofe, Chriji conftantly
appealed to them ; referring men to the
works, which his father impowered him to
perform, as the evidence of his coming from
God; of which they were the direft proofs;
Although they are calculated, and may alfo
be defigned to revive and powerfully to recall
men's attention to important truths within
their knowledge, but overlooked and negle^led
by them.
Some, indeed, would prejudge and fet afide
at once the .whole of the extraordinary and
divine communications recorded in the fcrip-
tures, as entirely fabulous, arguing it to be
inconfiftent with the chara6Ver and attributes
of the great firft caufe, the fupreme, all-
perfe6l Being, and therefore impoffible for
him to alter the courfe of nature eflabliflied
by himfelf, and to interrupt thofe laws of his
pwn appointment, by which he governs and
preferves the world,
We
14 CON^VERSATroXS ox THE
We fliould here take care, that we arc not
impofed on by words, that fignify nothing.
For what do we mean by nature, but the att,
if we may fo fpeak, of the gredt Creator, his
workmanfliip ; the regular facceffion of caufes
and effe6ts appointed by him ; by which
every thing is brought to pafs ? And who
Hiall take upon him to fay, that it is unbe-
coming him, or that his power is in any way
hmited and reftrained fo that he cannot In-
terrupt the general order of things appointed
by himfelf, to promote his wife and benevo-
lent defigns ?
Perhaps this prejudice and difficult}*, that
has been darted againft all miraculous inter-
pofitions, as implicating a weaknefs of con-
du6b in the fupreme Being, we may, on a
nearer infpeftion, perceive to take its rife
purely from men's imperfe6l conceptions of
the divine agency and government.
Here, we muft ever profefs ourfelves in the
dark, and moft defe6live in our judgements,
concerning the manner in which the deitj'
acls ; and therefore fpeak with reverence and
diffidence.
Bui,
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 15
But, as we are perfuaded, from what we
fee and know, that he made all things
■with moil confummate wifdojji, and for the
beft purpofes of imiverfal good, our higheft
thoughts of him lead us to conclude, that
when he created the world, all future events
were before him, known and forefeen in their
caufes ; and every, the minuteft circumftance
relating to every creature, contrived and di--
re6led ultimately to anfwer the end deiigned ;
lince without this, his wife and kind defigns
might be liable to be continually croiled and
defeated.
In agreement with this idea, the apoftle
faySy A6ls xv. 18. known nnto God arc all
Jii^ works from the beghming of the world.
And we may humbly prefume, that we do
not err, in fuppofmg, that the Almighty did
at firfl, and originally, ^fo devife and lay out
his courfe of nature, as we term it, the whole
train of caufes end effects, all that was to
befall his whole creation and each individual
in it, throughout all future time, that thofe
events, M^hich we call fupernatufal, (liould be
the reiult oT ellablilhed laws, and a moi*e
comprehenlive plan of things, though unper-
ceived
l6 CONVEESATIONS ON THE
ceived by us ; as much as the moft ordinary
events, our fuftenance and fupport in life, and
that of all otJipr animals, is the efFe6l of
thofe laM's, that we fee to be eftablifhed : So
that in the eye of a being, who could take in
the whole of the divine adminiftration and
operations, thofe called miraculous, are as
much the refult of general laws, as the moft
ordinary events.
The courfe of nature, of which we hear
fo much, and cannot hear too much, if pro-
perly viewed and coniidered by us; thofe
moil curious and exact laws, both in the na-
tural and moral fyflem, by which the uni-
verfe is upheld and prefer\ed, we cannot fuf-
ficiently extoU and admire.* Thofe who have
moil minutely Icanned and inquired into and
beft underitood them, Barrow, Boyle, Mac-
lauriii, (to name a few only of our own coun-
trjmen) have not been able to contain them-
felves from breaking out into fuch holy rap-
tures in contemplation of that wifdom and
goodness, which formed and preferves the
whole of things, as might kindle a flame of
devotion in the coldefl breail.
This
DIVINE GOVERNMENT^ 17
This may be a lefifon to us, in our ftudy of
nature and its ftupendous laws, not to lofe
fight of the great being, who framed it. For
we find fome fo fwallowed up in their dif-
quifitions and refearches into the wonderful
contrivance with which all the parts of thevaft
machine are put together, and fo doting on
their difcoveries of Ibme of the fecret powers
and energies by which it is conduced, as to
imagine, that thefe powers and energies are
fomething, as it were, inherent in matter,
diitin6l from, and independent of its maker.
And as all things feem to go on of them-
felves, (for they fee not him whofe * fecret
agency dire6ts and fupports the whole) they
are blindly led on to fpeculate, whether all
things did not alfo begin of themfelves with-
out him ; and thus fall into the gulph of
Atheifm, which fees nothing fuperior to itfelf
in the univerfe.
Tp guard againft fo fatal a deluiion, I beg,
my friends, you Avill excufe my urging it upon
you, to hold fait, the plain old argument for
JJeity, obvious to every underftanding, and
* Hcb. xi. 27.
c equally
18 CONVERSATIONS OX THE
equally decifive to the higheft as the loweft ;
viz. that next to the confcioufnefs and con-
vi6tion which we have of our own exiitence,
there is nothing, of which we can be fo
ablbliitely certain, or which is fo clearly de-
monftrable to us, as that there is a God, an
intelligent firft caufe, and benevolent author
of all things ; becaufe, otherw ife the world
we live in, with all its furniture and inhabi-
tants, conftructed with the molt confummate
art, and abounding, at every view, the more
it is fought into, with innumerable marks of
wifdom and kind defign ; conne6led alfo and
mutually dependent throughout all its parts,
as far as we can defcry, muft have come into
being of itfelf, without any original defigning
mind : which is a fuppofition, not to be en-
tertained by any one, whofe intellectual pow-
ers are found and unimpaired.
I remember D'Akmhert, who was careful
latterly not to concede too much upon this
qu ftion, in his correfpondence with the
King of Prullia, is compelled to fay, " * I
think
* Je penfe en partlculier, par rapport a Texiftence
tl'une intelligence fupreme, que ceux qui la nient avan-
cent bien plus qu'ils ne peuvent prouver, ct qu'il n'y a
dans
DIVIKE GOVERNMENT. 19
think particularly, that with regard to the
exiftence of a fu.preme intelligence, thofe
who deny it go much farther than they can
warrant, and that in all this bufmefs there is
an unreafonable fcepticifm. Certainly ho
one can deny, that there is in the univerfe,
and particularly in the ftru6ture of plants
and animals, fuch a combination of parts, as
manifefts intelligence, and proves the exift-
ence of this intelligence, as a watch proves
the exiftence of a watchmaker. This appears
to be undeniable."
The fame thought is taken up by Voltaire^
p. 4, of his Reply to the Syftem of Nature *.
" Your
dans cette matJere que la fcepticifme deraiforrable. On
ne peut nier fans doute, qu'il n^y a dans Tunivers, et en
particulier dans la fl:ru(5lure des animaux et des plantes,
decombinaifonsde parties qui fembleiit deceler une intelli-
gence ; elles prouvent I'exiftence de cette intefiitgence,
comroe une montre pronve I'exiftence d'un horloger;.
cela parait inconteftable.
* Votre fauvage qui devinc qu*une montre eft faite pafr
un horloger, parce qu'il a quelque idee de I'induftrie
humaine, eft precifement la preuve de I'exiftence de Dieu.
Je fuis le lauvage : la montre eft I'onivsrs : I'liorloger eft
Is formateur de I'univers, J'ai quelque idee de I'induftrie
e 2 en
20 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
" Your favage, {fa^^s he, ch. v. p. 11, p. 159-)
who gueffes a watch to be the vork of a
watchmaker, becaufe he has fome idea of
the efFe6ls of the induftry of man, is pre-
cifely the proof I offer of the exiitence of
God. I am that favage. The watch is the
univerfe. I have fome idea of induftry in
general. I behold the world, in which a
wonderful induftry difplays itlelf on all fides,
and I adore the author."
Mirabaud, or whoever was the author of
that work, muft have been affecled, when at
the clofe of a fimilar argument, Voltaire turns
to hini *, " Why, my friend, why will you
not let me adore that great intelligent being,
who has beftowed life and thought upon me ?
Let me add. Take care of being found un-
en general : je vols le monde dans leqiiel une Induflrie
nierveilleufe eclnte tie toutes parts ; et j'adore I'auteur.
Reponse au Syfteme de la Nature, page 12.
* Pourquoi ne voulez vous pas que j'adore ce grand
Ktre intelligent et puilfant qui m'a donne la vie et la
penfee? J'ajouterai, craignez d'etre ingrat, vous a qui
il a donns rant d'efprir ■, ce n'eft pas certainement vous
<]ui vous I'etes donne.
Jbid. page 1 1 .
grateful,
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 2X
grateful, you, to whom he has given fuch
talents and powers ! It is certain, you have
not given them to yourfelf/'
It is not, however, entirely, mens doubts
concerning the porfibility or reality of mira-
cles, or concerning the truth of the facred
hiftory conne6led \\ ith them ; nor any pre-
fumed difcoveries of the hidden powers and
energies of nature, that have put them on
rejefting divine revelation, and led not »
few of them to deny the being of a God,
and take refuge in the gloomy idea of a
fatherlefs world. It is a difficulty of a more
ferious kind, from which it fometimes origi-
nates ; the perplexity that worthy thinking
perfons are often thrown into, how to recon-
cile appearances in the world of nature, and
the imperfe6t and forlorn ftate of mankind
with the fuppoiition of a perfectly wife and
good moral adnnniftration. " If there be a
being perfectly wifp and good at the head of
the univerfe, why I'uch a miferable world, fc?
much natural evil, pain and fuffering, and fo
much vice and wretchednefs ? Why are not
all men virtuous and happy ? And, why {a
c 3 little
22 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
little apparent amendment for the better
among chriltians, and fo great a majority of
thepti doomed to endlefs fiiffering hereafter,
or to annihilation, with fo great an expence
of miracles and of a divine extraordinary
power made to fo little purpofe ?
Could we find a clue to lead us fafe out of
this labyrinth, and to teach us how to juftify
the dealings of God with mankind, con-
fiftently with that perfe6l goodnefs, which we
mull ever afcribe to him, if we believe him
to be at all ; we Ihall provide the beft remedy
againft, and, in time, put an end to the
prevailing fcepticifm.
Here the company rifmg up, Marcellinus^
in the name of them all, declared their obli-
gations to PhotimiSf for giving them caufe
not to defpair of the fortunes and fuccefs of
the gofppl, notwithftanding its prefent low
condition ; and for fo feafonably reminding
them of the folid foundation, on which the
belief of God, the infinitely wife creator and
fupreme governor of all things was immovcT
^bly placed ; as this muft lead the way to all
fatis-
BIVINE GOVERNMENT. 23
iatisfa6lory enquiry concerning his difpofi-
tions towards us and our expectations from
him.
He was alfo perl'uaded, that he ihould
fpeak the fentiments of all prefent as well as
his own, by fuggelting, that if they could
but engage the friend, to whom they already
owed lb much, to favour them with thole
farther thoughts which they knew he had
well digeiied upon this very weighty fubjeft,
there would be nothing more for them to
defire, and therefore he would take the
liberty to be their fpokefman and entreat his
compliance.
To this PJiotinus frankly replied, that to
take fuch a talk upon him on lb formal an
invitation was quite formidable to a plain
man, and implied too much expectation ; but
if they could be contented with knowing in
what manner he had endeavoured to fatisfy
his own mind in a matter of fo much impor-
tance, he Ihould not be unwilling to gratify
them. But as they all might well be wearied
with fuch a long grave difcourfe, he Ihould
c 4 propofe
24 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
propofe their taking up the fubje6l again at
their next meeting. To this the company
affented, and the refult of our future conver-
fation I {hall take the firft opportunity of
communicating.
CON-
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 25
CONVERSATION II.
SECTION I.
ON the day fixed, the company being
affembled, Voliifian, who during the former
converlation, had been very attentive, ex-
preffed much fatisfaftion that all the party
had been punctual to the appointment ; and
addreffing his difcourfe particularly to Pho-
tinus, told him, that he hajd liflened with
much fatisfa6lion to all that had fallen from
him, but might probably have mifunderftood
what he had advanced concerning thofe who
rejected all divine revelation, as being com-
monly induced to it from dark views of the
prefent fcene of things and of the ways of
providence, which indifpofed them towards
the Deity, and all communications from him.
This might -be true in fome inftances, but
there were many exceptions to it, and one
of great note, the noble author of the Cha-
raSteriJiicks, who , was well known to have
admirably pleaded the caufe of a God and a
providence ; that in the world we inhabit, the
con-
26 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
conftitution of things is perfe6lly moral, vice
the road to mifery, and the virtuous of man-
kind happy : although at times he was held
too plainly to intimate his little value for the
facred volumes, eipecially that of the Old
Teftament.
Photmus thanked him for his obfervations,
and for giving him an opportunity of further
explaining his fentiments. He had no doubt
himfelf of the chara6ler of unbelievers of the
prefent day being pretty much as he had
defcribed it. But he was not infenfible that
there were fome of a ver}^ different clafs, who
acknowleged on all proper occafions, and
fliewed a profound reverence for the Deity,
and gave reafon to believe that they endea-
voured in their a6lions to approve themfelves
to him. If the author of the CharaBeriJlicks
is to be reckoned in that clafs, few chriftians,
it muft be confeflTed, feemed imprefled Avith
fo full and conllant a fenfe of the divine pre-
fence and benignity, and thofe chearful expec-
tations of fe-vour hereafter, with which it
might be gathered that he was penetrated,
from innumerable paiTages in his writings,
where
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 2?
where it is evident he fpoke from the heart,
and from the moft ferious conviction.
One paffage, which I hope never to forget,
in his " Inquiry concerning virtue," p. 5J,
befpeaks this in a high degree ; and I fliall
gratify you, I am perfuaded, by repeating it:
*' Where the theiitical belief," fays he, " is
entire and perfe6t, there muft be a fteady
opinion of the fuperintendency of a fupreme
Being, a witnels and fpe6tator of human
life, and confcious 6f whatever is felt or
a6ted in the univerfe : fo that in the perfe6left
recefs, or deepeft folitude there mult be one
flill prefumed remaining with us ; whofe pre-
fence lingly muil be of more moment than
that of the moft auguft aflfembly upon earth.
In fuch a Prefence 'tis evident, that as the
ihame of guilty aftions muft be the greateft
of any, fo muft the honour be of well doing,
even under the unjuft cenfure of a world."
Of one thing however I cannot doubt, that
if he ever relinquilhed his belief of chrifti-
finit}^ which is a thing by no means certain,
he was much indebted to it for tliofe leffons
pf the moft pure and fublime marality, for
which his writings i\rc juftly admired.
But
28 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
But now we are thrown upon the fubje61:,
as we are not hmited in our time, it may not
only be an amufement, but of fome ufe, to
endeavour to ftate, whether there be any
grounds for chriftians to reckon this cele-
brated perfon one of their number.
It is to be collected from thofe very fcantv
memorials which are preferved of this third
Earl of Shaftjhury, that from his infancy a
very extraordinary care was taken to bring
him acquainted with the learned languages
of Greece and Rome, the key to all the
knowledge of the antients, in which he after-
wards excelled in an eminent degree ; and
we may be afTured an efpecial attention would
alfo be paid to form the mind to every thing
that bore relation to piety and virtue, as Mr.
Locke is known to have been particularly
confulted in the care of his education^
His ferioufnefs in the profeffion of the
chriftian religion, into which he was early
initiated, is recounted on feveral occafions in
his youth, and feems to have grown up with
him. But what principally fhewed his firm
arid rational conviftion of the truth of the
gofpel,
UIVINE GOVERNMENT. 29
gofpel, his high value for it, and "zeal and
earneftnefs to bring others to the knowlege
of it, and to imbibe its fpirit, was a publica-
tion made by him, in I698, Svhen he was
27 years of age, of a volume of fermons by
Dr. Whichcot, a Divine of the church of
England, juftly. held in the higheft reverence
and efteem. Thefe fermons this young man
of quality was at the pains to fearch out and
collect IVom perfons, who had taken them
down in fhort-hand as they were delivered
from the pulpit, fuch being the modefty of
this very celebrated preacher in his day both
in the univerfity of Cambridge and after-
wards in this great city, as would never let
him print any of his difcourfes. The noble
editor appears to have been very accurate in
preparing the volume for the prefs, which he
publiflied with a preface of. his own of fome
length, but without his name.
In this preface. Lord AJliley, for his father
was then living, fpeaks of chriitianity, as one
that underftood and loved it ; as " a religion
where love is chiefly enjoyned ; where the
heart is exprefsly called for; and the out-
M-ard a6lioij without that is difregarded ; and
' charity
^0 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
charity (or kindnefs) is made all in all."
. And throughout the whole of the difcourfes,
it is I'een, what excellent creatures in all re-
fpe6ts mankind would become, if influenced
and governed by the principles of the gofpel.
Several years afterwards, from February
1707. to July 1710, we hav^ a feries of Let-
ters, written after he came to his eftate and
titles, to a young Student at the univerfity
of Oxford, who was there, at his expence
and under his direftion, preparing for the
miniftry in the church of England- Thefe
letters befpeak the writer*s high value for
chriftianity, and fhew in a moft edifying
manner, thofe fentiments of true piety and
genuine goodnefs by which he was conftantly
guided himfelf, and which he ftrove to inftil
into this young perfon *.
Soon
* A beantiful edition of Lord Shaftfbury's Letters to a
ftudent of the univcrlity, was republiihed a few years
ago, and diftrihuted by James Martin, Efq. the truly con-
fcientious Member for Tewkefbury, as one way among
many others in which he might enHghten and benefit
mankind, ever his defire and deHght.
I would beg leave here to hear my teftimony to a truly
laudable though rare cuftom, inflituted by the above
gentle-
8
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. SI
Soon after this, in the year 1711, he went
abroad on account of his health, which had
long been very delicate and precarious, and
died at Naples, in the beginning of the year
1713, having barely compleated his 42d
year.
A flight prefumption, ought not, it would
feem, to overfet the weight of this evidence
for the author of the CharaSteri/iicks being
a chriltian ; and yet we ihall meet with fome
things that will caufe helitation. We have
his writings, which may be faid to contain
his real fentiments, as they were revifed by
gentleman, of dally colle61:ing his children and family
before breakfaft to hear a moral, or inftru6live difcourfe
or a fermon, as it happens, and concluding by a ihort
addrefs to the Divine Being : thus beginning every day as
a Chriftlan ought ; and which cannot enough be recom-
mended and followed.
No company in the houfe interrupts this fervice, no
bufmefs, either in town or country: And children thus
inured to fit ftill and liftcn muft learn fomething, and
when older are called to read the prayer aloud, getting by
fiich means a habit and impreflions which can never
wholly die away and be loft in their future intercourfc
with tlic world.
l^im
52 CONVBRSATIONS ON TIII^
him for republication, during the leifure,
M'hich his long (tay at Naples afforded him
in the two laft years of his life.
In them he appears to have centracted
undue prejudices againft fome diftinguifhed
characters and tranfaftions, which are fpoken
of with conmiendation in the facred writings,
betraying too great a willingnefs to fee things
in the moft unfavourable point of view.
This appears in his difpoiition to give credit
to other hiltorians rather than thofe who
were moft competent to the fafts they treat
of; in what he lays concerning the rite of
circumcifjon among the Hebrews ; in his in-
finuations againft Abraham, and imputing
his readihefs, at the known command of God,
to have put his fon to death, to a pronenefs
for human facrifices in thofe days, inftead of
extolling the pious and right difpolltions he
fhewed on t4iat occaficn, which this noble
author would not Irnve failed to do, had he
conlidered the hiitory and al! its circum-
ftanccs without prejudice :, in his feeking to
depreciate and aiperfe the fair unfpotted
name of Jofeph, governor of the country
under Pharaoh, as combined with the priefts
of
t)IVINt! GOVERNMENT. SS
of Egypt, to enflave the nation to the king^
and put their whole property into his hands,
from having married into tlie family of one
of them. Equally uncandid and groundlefs
Avere his accufations of Mofis on iimilar fuf-
picions and furmifes: for had he met with
fuch chara6lers in Grecian ftory he would not
have ceafed to applaud and admire them ;
the hebrew youth, as a mod amiable pattern
of filial piety, generous fraternal afFe6lionj
and purity of manners ; and the hebrew
legiflator, for his confummate wifdom^ and
for devoting himfelf and all his powers, with-
out any felf-feeking, to the good of others^
Such hafty condemnation, in thefe and
fome other inftances, he would not have fuf-
fered himfelf to pafs, if, without undue bias,
he had calmly confidered ; that men chofen
of God for important purpofeSj and therefore
extraordinarily favoured by him, were not^
nor was it neceilary they fhould bcj faultlefs
perfons ; that in the infancy of a common-
wealth, of a nature fo peculiar as that of the
hebrews, a hardier difcipline might at firft
be needed : as for inftance, in adjudging the
pran (Numb, xv.) that gathered flicks on the
I) fabbath
54 CONVERSATIOXS ON THE
liibbatli to be ftoned to death, to reftrain and
deter others from the violation of its laws
in future, and in thmgs of greater moment.
A lid with reg'aixl to the extermination of
the idolatrous nations of Canaan, and the
leverities and deftruftion accompanying it,
which have been much exaggerated, and may
hereafter be noted ; may it not deferve to be
confide red, whether in the inilance of a gene-
ral deftruftion injoined of innocent children
with perfons grown up, fuch proceedings
might not be authorized by the righteous
moral governor of the world, in mercy to
the unfortunate lufferers themfelves ; whilft
in putting an end to the lives of his crea-
tures, he put an end to the moft horrid vice,
(in which the young would have been trained,
and others grown worfe) by continuing in
which they would only have been more and
more removed from, and with more difficulty
recovered and brought back to virtue and tQ
true happine fs.
Add to this, a mofi important confidera-
tion, that fuch temporary feveritv tended
immediately to deter and prevert the Ifrael-
ites,
1
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. S5
ites^ and the nations around from becoming
infe6led with and going on in fuch praftices,
for which thefe people were doomed to fuffer ;
I mean, the praftices of a beftiahty not to
be named ; of the moil defihng, promifcuou,^
commerce between the fexes ; and of that
dreadful fuperftition which led them to make
their children pafs through the fire to be
confumed in it, in honour of their falfe gods*
Had the pure, well-difpofed mind of Lord
Shaftjhury, been fufficiently unwarped to
behold thefe things in their true light, he
would have been far from imputing blamei
here ; he who was penetrated with a full
perfuafion of the perfe6l unlimited goodnefs
of the univerfal parent ; and of the prefent,
being only a beginning progreffive ftate of
his rational offspring, for their improvement
in virtue and happinefs for ever **
However he might fometimes affeft to
fpeak lightly of the argument from miracles,
* See Lord Shaftfbury's Letters, p. 20. Mr. Martin's
edition.
D 2 tl;^
36 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
the only one that can fully prove to us a
divine revelation, he Ibmetimes (hewed that
he uiiderltood and valued it, and would by
no means be thought to reje6t it. In the
Charaaerijiicks, Vol. II. p. 352, 333, 334,
there is a fine paflage to this purpofe, the
whole of which deferves perufal. The noble
^Vriter begins with eftabiiihing, as he ftyles
it, "^ a juit and rational foundation for our
faith, on which we may give credit to a
divine revelation ; namely, A^'hen it comes re-
commended to us by the teftimony of thofe
whofe chara(5lers and lives might anfwer for
them as to the truth of what they reported
to us from God." And he then very pro-
perly remarks, that miracles^ of tbemfelves
are proofs only of fuperior power ; and that
we muft be perfuaded that the power iis under
the direction of fupreme wifdom and good-
nefs.; in ihort, that there is a God, who by
his wife and good providence appoints and
governs all things, before we can rely on any
miraculous communications from him ; and
then concludes in thefe words ; " To whom
therefore the Laws of this Univerfe and ita
Government appear juft and uniform ; to
^ him they fpeak the Govenmient of one just
ONE ;
DIVINE GOVERN'MENT. 37
<5NE ; to him they reveal 2ind witnefs a God:
and laying in him the foundation of this fir fi
Faith, they fit him for a Juhfequent one.
He can then hearken to Hijiorical Revela-
tion : and is then fitted (and not till then)
for the reception of any Meffage or miracu-
lous Notice from above ; where he knows
beforehand all is jufl and true. But this no
power of Miracles, nor any Power befides
his Reafon, can make him know or appre-
hend." He who writes in this fort cannot
juflly be pronounced a rejeftor of ail mira-
cles, or dilbeliever of divine revelation.
It muft not be omitted, that in the year
1710, Lord Shqffjburi/ havmg been informed
by the young man whom he had educated
for the mimftry, at the univeriity of Oxford,
that he had been very lately ordained by
Dr. Burnet, Biihop of Saliibury; on re-
ceiving this letter, his patron, thus, among
other things, writes back to him. " July
10th, 1710, I hope whatever advice the
great and good biihop gave you, will fmk
deeply into your mind : and that your re-
ceiving orders from the liands of fo worthy a
prelate will be one of tlie circumitances,
D 3 which
38 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
which may help to infure your fteadinefs in
honefty, good principles, moderation and true
Chriftianity." " As for my part of
kindnefs and friendfhip to you, 1 Ihall be fuf-
ficiently recompenfed, if you prove (as you
have ever promifed) a virtuous, pious, fober,
and ftudious man, as becomes the folemn
charge belonging to you/' " The
thorough knowlege you have had of me, and
the direftion of all my ftudies and life to the
promotion of religion, virtue and the good of
mankind, v/ill (I hope) be of fome good
example to you: at leaft it will be a hindrance
to your being feduced by infamies and caliim-.
nies ; fuch as are thrown upon the men called
moderate^ and in their ftyle indifferent in re-.
ligion, heterodox, and heretical/'
'* I pray God to blefs you in your new
funftion, with all the true virtue, humility,
moderation, and meeknefs, which becomes it,
I am your hearty friend,
S,"
It
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 39
It wouM now feem from thefe faQ:s, and
authorities laid together, that we muft in all
equity conclude, that this celebrated writer
did not make the declarations we have feen
in favour of chriftianity with a view to de-
ceive ; that he was not a6ling a part, but was
a real believer of that religion for which he
uniformly profeffed fuch a high regard.
We cannot certainly decide that his free
notions and farcaftic raillery in which he in-
dulged with refpe6l fome of the hiftories in
the Old Teftament, amounted to an intire
rejection of its divine authority : but this we
may conclude, that his fcepticifm in this re-
fpe6l, whatever it was, did not appear to him
incompatible with a fmcere belief and pro-
feffion of chriftianity.
Nor are we to think otherwife of him, for
the insinuations he fometimes throws out
againft the gofpel-morality, as being deficient
in teaching the duties of friendfhip, of the
love of liberty and of our country ; objec-
tions which ferve only to expofe his learned
vanity and ignorance ; but it appears, as far
as can be judged from his fentiments and
D 4 . condu6l,
40 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
condu6t, that he was, and Mas defirous of
paffing for a chriftian ; and alfo wiflied fuch
a judgment to be formed of him by pofterity.
We may then now perhaps be permitted
to reprefent to ourfeh es the manner in which
the author of the Choracierijiicks, would
have been received by pur divine mafter
Jefus, if he had met with fuch a character
in his walks through Judea. May we not
image to ourfelves, that after fome heavy re-
bukes for his high felf-conceit, and other
grievous defe6ls, bordering upon and fpring-
ing from it, and after pointing out the necef-
iity of the fevere difcipline to be exercifed
pver his imagination which had fadly mifled
him, our Saviour would, in favour of his
general difpofition, and principles, have
fpoken kindly to him and encouraged him,
with the words of hope and confolation,
^* Thou art not far from the kingdom of
Gqdr
But it is high time to go on with our
fubje6t^ though we have not wandered far, if
at all, out of our way, in this long digreffion ;
for which we are much beholden to VolifiaUj
as
DIVIDE GOVERNMENT. 41
as it has brought before us a moft amiable
and accompiiihed perlon, who thought, and
who contributed to make others think, well
of the world, and its maker, and therein is
no fmall encouragement to us.
It is then with great pleafure, my friends,
that I begin with noting, that as there is
nothing, which we can poffibly be more con-
cerned to know, than that the power that
made us, is benevolently difpofed to us, and
to all his creatures, he has not been wanting
in furnilliing us with a knowlege fo necefiary
to our peace. For although we do not be-
hold him with our bodily eyes, we can fee in
his works,, and dealings with us, and with
every living creature, how great and good
he is. It may, indeed, be called the verdiQ;
and fentiment of nature ; becaufe in all ages,
where any believed in God, they believed
him to be good ; feeing the^. marks of kind
deiign every where, and in every thing, they
could frame no other idea of the fovereign
Creator, than as intending the happinefs of
the things he had made ; not to receive any
Joenefit himfelf, for he wanted not any thing;
jjut to impart and communicate from his
boundlefs
42 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
boundlefs ocean of goodnefs to all. And it
is a fa6b of great notoriety, that what put
men at firft upon the thought of there being
a powerful independent evil principle, was,
their not being able otherwife fatisfaftorily to
account to themfelves for the evil and miferj,
which was in the world, and becaufe they
were perfuaded, that nothing but good could
come from God.
But this univerfal fentiment and impreffion
concerning the deity being found among all
his rational oflfspring, that he is of the mofl
perfe6t goodnefs, though highly deferving
attention, as the genuine teftimony which his
works bear to the character of their author,
does not prove him to be fuch to the anxious
inquiring mind, whilft fo many things feem
to wear a contrary afpe61:. That can onl}' be
made to appear by fuch a refearch and par-
ticular examination as will convince us, that
all creatures are intended for happinefs, and
put into the way of enjoying it.
Now wherever we turn our eyes, to the
beafts of the field, the birds of the air, the
watery tribes, or the numberlefs infeft race,
we
DIVIN^E GOVERNMENT. 43
we fee them chearful and happy, and their
happinefs fecured to them in a manner fuited
to their nature and conditions. It is moft
obvious and mankind have very early noticed
it, with regard to thcmfelves, as a mark of
kind defign in their maker, that the organs
'^of their body, which a^e of chief moment
for comfort and well-being, and of moil con^^
ftant ufe, are moft iludioufly guarded from
injury, and advantageoufly placed ; the eye
elevated on high for the better difcovery of
obje6ts ; the ear likewife for the greater ad-
vantage of hearing ; fo likewife the organ of
fmelling near the mouth, for a guide in the
choice of food. And the lame kind attention
and difpofition of thefe principal organs is
obfervable in the infinite variety of the diffe-
rent fpecies of the animal creation, accom-
modated to their form and way of life,
And as the world is God's Houfe, and all
the living creatures in it, part of his family,
carrying on their different works and bufmefs
in it, for a limited feafon ; and as he intended
ji fucceflion of its inhabitants to be continued,
he has therefore made proper provifion for
their propagation; and ^fo for their com^,
fortable
44 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
fbrtable iupport ; which is either put in their
immediate poliellion, when brought into hfe,
or fo placed within their reach, that by the
eafy ufe of their powers, it may be fecured.
The utmoft care is taken of all animals
when young, and unable to provide for them-
felves. This is generally done by their pa-
rents, efpecially the mothers, who acquit
themfelves therein with aftonifhing perfe-
verance, fidelity and tendernefs, which na-
turalifts can never enough admire ; encoun-
tering the greateit diiHculties and dangers in
the protection of them, and fhewing the
greateft i'elf-denial in procuring them fufte-
nance. And it is fo ordered, that their na-
tural affection and care ceafe, when there is
no further call for them. Where this office
is not performed by the parent, they are di-
rected to lay their eggs, or produce their
young, in places, where when born they in-
ftantly find their nouriihment in the greatell
abundance.
All the different tribes of animals are fur-
nifhed with their proper food, io as not to
interfere with each other : and all know what
ii
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 45
is fdlutary for them by their feveral fenfes,
their food being made pleafant and inviting
to them. Innumerable are the benevolent
contrivances of the author of nature for their
accommodation in this refpe6l. In thofe
feafons of the year, when the food of fome
animals is not to be obtained in one country,
they are found to traverfe land and feas,
exa6:ly at tho proper feafons, to procure it in
another, and fail through the air by a more
certain intuitive guidance, than the mariner's
compafs. Others are fo formed, that in
winter, for inftance, when their food is not
to be obtained, they fubfift without it, and
hve concealed in their retiring places, tiM
fpring approaches. Thole animals which are
the moft generally ufeful, are found in the
greateft number, and almoil in all countries.
And the more uncommon ones are to be feen
only in thofe climates and iituations, where
they are beft provided for, and moft ufeful
and happy ; as the Rhen-Deer in Lapland,
and the Camel in the hot countries, bordering
on the fandy defarts.
Nor is it any exception to the goodnefs of
the creator, that many animals are made to
prey
46 <!;0NVERSATIOXS ON THE
prey and feed upon one another. Ravenous
beafts, tigers, wolves, &c. are not numerous,
are foon deftroyed where the earth is inha-
bited and cultivated ; and, in the mean time,
they call forth men's a6live powers, are of
ufe to prevent other animals from multiplying
too fall. Alio, in general, they are only
hurtful, when provoked by fome injury, or
Itimulated by hunger. How often would the
labour of tlie hulbandman be entirely fruil
trated in his expe6iations from fowing his
grain and feeds, if birds of prey did not live
upon the maggots and worms, that infeft the
tender blade and bud ? To prevent the like
mifchievous effefts, the wild boar and timid
hare are deftined to be hunted down and
deftroyed by other animals. The minuteft
flies and infects furnilh food to the fmaller
birds, that enliven our atmofphere by their
notes and by their dexterity in their flights ;
and was not the vaft multitude of thefe in
fome countries to be the nourifbment of the
feathered race, the aftonifhing fwarms of them
would, at times, darken the atmofphere, and
render life uncomfortable.
But
DIVINE COVERSTMENT. 47
But by this kind contrivance^ and multi-
plication of living creatures an infinitely
greater number enjoy exiftence and are made
happy by it, than would othervvife have taken
place. And though it be very fhort, they
enjoy their little day of life, without any re-
gret at parting with it, and make room
thereby for others to fucceed, and be happy
in their tiirn. And with refpect to thofe
tamer domeftic animals, which mankind kill
for their food, they become happier thereby
from the extraordinary care taken of their
health and nourifliment. It is neceflfary,
moreover, to deftroy them, as, otherwife, tlie
earth would be overrun and fo tilled by them^
as not to yield fufficient food for mankinds
It is a ilri6l duty, however, for which all will
be refponfible, to put an end to their being in
the eafiell and fliorteft way. And, as they
have no prefentiment of what is to happen,
to them, the abridging of their lives is no
injury, as they fuffer lefs by this prema-
ture death, than by dying of dii'eafe and
old age.
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed tc-day,
Had he thy reafon, would he ikip and play ?
Pleased
48 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
Pleas'd to the laft, he crops the flow'ry food.
And HckS the hand juft rais'd to ihed his blood.
Oh ! bHndnefs to the future, kindly given,
That each may lill the circle, mark'd by heav'n !
EJj'ay on Man, Ep. i.
We, alfo, as partakers of the fame nature
Avith our fellow-animals aroui;id us, have our
full fliare, as fuch, in the kindnets and care
of the common Creator. His goodnefs meets
us at our birth, and provides for us in our
firil helplefs Ihite. He has contrived all the
obje(5ts of our feveral fenfes to be pleafmg to
us, indicating thereby that he intends us to
be gratified by them.
Pleafure is, indeed, our natural feeling,
accompanying the application and exercife of
all our powers, and difcovering itfelf moft
remarkably, as has been obferved, in the
playful dilpoiition of young children ; which,
when there is no reafon againil it, ought ever
to be indulged.
Nor is it any mark of unkindnefs or in-
difference towards us, in our Creator, that
we
DIVINE GOVERNMENT* 49
we are fubje6l alfo to painful feelingSj but tlie
contrary ; as they frequently a rife from what
would be hurtful to us^ and put us upon
avoiding it. The pains of hunger and thirft,
which are among the fii'il; we experience, and
which continue through life, are not only
conftant fources of delight to us, but are
iieceffary to excite us to the care of our
health and to labour, without which we ihould
be in danger of becoming torpid, ufelefs, and
miferable;
Some of the aduteft pains, to which we are
expofed, are evidently the accidental^ not the
natural efFe6ls of our frame. Difeafes, in
general are an effort of the cohftitution, to
relieve from fomething, that would be pre-
judicial to us ; for which providence, by the
means of human induftry and ingenuity, hath
furnifhed us with many effeftual remedies,
^nd by the fame induftry and ingenuity of
men tnore are daily difcovered. And epi-
demical difeafes, by alarming men's fears,
put them on more minute inveftigation, in
diligently f^udying their caules, fo as to pre-
vent them in future, and more ii\ es are pre-
ferved,
E Nor
50 co:n^veiisatioxs on the
Nor can we complain of a want of bene-
volence, in there being fo m?lny caufes at
hand continually of the deflruftion of us, as
of other animals. For we and all animals
were born to die. I'his is the condition of
the prefent life. The manner of dying is in
itfelf of little moment
It is neceflary to make room for others of
our fellow-creatures after us, to act their
parts, whatever be the defign of placing us
on tlie ftage of this world ; that as we have
had our day and time of hfe, and fini{hed our
parts, others may fucceed and fmifli their's.
And when, as fometimes happens, in vaftly
greater numbers, the different actors are Iwept
off the ftage by earth-quakes, by war, pefti-
lence, and the like, the fufferers themfelves
have the leaft reafon of complaint, as the
eafieft way of going out of the world is to be
called out on the fudden.
If this were to be the whole of our ^xifl-
tince, as it may be, for aught Ave know, of
our fellow-animals, there would be no realbn
to murmur ; but to be thankful, for having
lived in this fair world, and enjoyed an over-
1 balance
DIVIXE GOVERNMENT; 51
balance of* happinefs in iti For that happi-
nefs abounds, is plain from this^ that man-
kind are univerfallj fond of hfe, and chng to
it with avidity to the laii:, to its very dregs :
which would not be, were it not pleafant to
them. The very few who make away with
themfelves, are not hurried on to it by any
comparative view or feeling of the miferies of
lite above its pleafures or enjoyments ; but^
where the motive can be perceived, it is gene-
rally found to be fome preffing anxiety of the
moment, which they have not the courage to
relift, whence they cowardly give way and
fall under it.
It is moll confolatory, that \\'« can thus
attain full latisfaftion concerning the liappi-
nefe of mankind and of all fentient beings in
the prefent Itate, as we have thereby full
evidence of the goodnefs, of the Power, that
gave us our being, by its efte6ts : for it might
have left fome fulpicion, that all was not fair
and kind above, if we had been referred to
an unknown, untried future Itate for proof of
the divine benevolence ; as it might have
fuggefled itfelf that we cannot but judge from
what we feel and experience, and that if the
E 2 Deity
02 CONVERSATIONS OX THE
Deity had fliewn himfelf lefs favourably dif-
pofed to his creatures here,- they could have
httle ground to expe6t it hereafter.
BUT, though fo kindly dealt with in
our animal capacity, in what relates only to
our prefent life, thanks ever due be given to
our great creator for that moft important dif-
tinftion, and mark of favour, which his kind-
nefs has farther beftowed upon us ; that we
can contemplate ourfelves alfo as his crea-
tures of an higher form ; as rational and
moral ; capable of attaining the knowlege of
him, the benevolent author of our being, and
of recommending ourfelves to his favour b}'
pious grateful acknowlegements and by -obe-
dience to his will, in doing good to others,
as he does good to us and to all ; which is
the higheft perfe6lion and blifs.
In this view of ourfelves, although we
come out of his hands more helplefs and
deftitute at firft, than other animals, this is
amply fupplied by the appointed inftruments
of our birth.
• The
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 53
The mind, our diftinguiihing excellency,
is at firft a perfect blank, fitted and ready to
receive whatever impreffions may be made
upon it ; for which we are entirely dependent
on thofe about us, and the circumftances, in
which we are placed : which accounts for the
infinite diveriity of characters that are in the
world. Ever in action, which is the fource
of all our improvement, from our firfl coming
into life, and in every ftage of it, we are de-
lighted in gaining continually new ideas, and
powers, and knowlege of all kinds.
The feveral parts of our make, our appe-
tites, paffions, and affeftions, fpring up gra^
dually in us, as they are called forth, and
their objefts prefent themfelves ; all of them
in themfelves good and right, and neceflary
for our well-being and perfection, yet without
due reftraipt and regulation, capable of being
perverted, and of mifleading us ; for which,
Reafon, the ruling faculty is given, to guide
us to private and public good.
Wholly the creatures of affociation and
habit, our charafters are infenlibly formed by
the inflruClion, converfation, and example of
E 3 thofe
54 COKVBJlSAtlOKS ON tHE
of thofe we firft mix with, and the things and
fcenes and perfons, to which we are accul^
tomedj and among whom our lot is caft.
And thus being from the firft, and all
along, the fubje^ls of perpetual care and
kindnefs and attention of parents and thofe
about us, our good affections are gene-
rated and excited : we are induced, we are
prompted, we defu'e, we feel it right, to be
kind to others, as others have been kind to
us, and take pleafure in adding to their hap-
pinefs.
As we grow up our wants conftrain us ftill
more to feek the aid and affiftance of others,
and our focial make inclining us not to live
in fohtude ; prompted alfo by nature to unite
ourfelves with a tender companion for life, a
way is opened from the conftruction of one
family to the union of many families together,
and the formation of larger communities for
fecurity, comfort, and advantageous inter-
courfe ; and thence to the eftablifhment of
government '^nd laws ; which when built up
^nd upheld by principles of equal hberty and
the
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 55
the general good, are fruitful of the greatefi
bleffings.
In the morning of life, at reafon^s earlieft
dawn, we are tranfported with the fight of
verdant fields, and lawns, and their various
peaceful inhabitants grazing on them, with
thofe combinations of different objefts, of hill
and dale and groves, that prelent theralelves
in beautiful landfchapes ; heightened at the
fame time with the harmony and mufic fur^
nilhed by the chorifters of the woods and
i]s.y, rejoicing in their being, and calling upon
us to join their fong : the whole fcenery to-
gether forcing upon the beholder, the joyous,
venerable idea of a parent almighty Mind ;
a Power unfeen, of wifdom and goodnefs
without bounds, which framed, adjulted, and
preferves the whole^ worthy to be loved and
adored by all; as Biomejield, in his artlef^
numbers, happily defcribes it,
There his fiifi: thoughts to Nature's charms uiclln'd,
Which ftamps devotion on th' inquiring mind.
And indeed by the ufe of reafon, the light
M^thin us, every attentive mind may, from
the view of his works, as well know that there
E 4 is
56 CONVERSATIONS ON THli
is a God, who made and governs the world ;
as he may know, by the ufe of his .eyes ancj
fenfes, that there is a Sun, which enHghtens
the .earth, and by its warmth cherilhes the
growth of vegetables, and ripens the corn
and fruits.
This natural light moreover teaches us, that
as we owe our exiftence and all its bleffmgs to
our Maker's unmerited kindnefs and bounty,
we (hould be odious monfters were we ever
to fail in the gratitude, reverence and obe-
dience, ever due to one fo much above us,
who Ihews himl'elf fo interefted for us and
deliroiis of pur happinefs. And as the frame
and conftitution, which he, who giveth every
thing to all, has bellowed upon us, is alfq
fuch, .that ^ye cannot be happy ourfelves,
without promoting to our power the happi-
nefs of our fellow-creatures : thefe plain in-
timations within,. and interwoven in our very
frame, of gratitude and love to Goa, and
affection to our fellow creatures, can be.cpn-'
fidered as none other than the voice of God
within us ; his fecret voice, by which he calls
to the fons and daughters of men in all ages-
and countiie.<, and teaches them their duty
and
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 57
$ind the road to their happinefs ; as once, by
an audible voice at Mount Sinai, he delivered
his folemn commands to one people.
Thus are thofe primary duties of piety and
benevolence engrafted in us, and provilion is
jnade for our happinefs as rational beings.
This is the law written in the hearts of thofe
who have no written law to guide them. And
thus has the cauie of religion and virtue
been kept up in the world, amongft all the
rational creatures of God, and the means of
virtue and iiohnefs, of their prefent and
future happmeis, afforded to ail : not the
fame means and advantages to all, but fuffi-
cient for every one who can attain to no
other. For no more will be required of any,
than the honeil and faithful ufe and improve-,
ment of the talents and advantages given, be
they more or fewer.
jPhotinus having ended, the company paufed
fi while, abforbed in involuntary lilence and
reflection on what he had brought together,
on the fupport and happinefs of all ientient
beings that we are acquainted with, from man
|down to the loweft worm,
Marcellinus
5S CONVERSATIONS ON THE
Marcellinus Itanding up, thanked him for
furniihing them with lUch an exquifite moral
treat; " How natural," exclaimed he, " on
iiich a prolpect of the world we inhabit, for
the pious mind to adopt thofe ftrains in which
the Hebrew poets fn'll led the way, infpired
by the fublime fubje6l, and called upon all
nature to afiill: them in hymning and cele-
bratins^ in their fonsrs the common creator
arid benefactor :
" Not only the young and old, and thofe
of every age and clafs of the human race ;
but all the irrational tribes of thofe who fill
the air, and m alk the earth, and creep on the
ground, or that glide along the watery ele-
ment ; the different families of living crea-
tures, who in their different ways ihew them-
felves, bufy and chearful and happy i
" And, not fatisfied with this tribute, ftill
in bolder ftrains the}^ invoke the mountains
and hills and plains, ami every tree and flirub
that grows, to contribute their (hare of praife,
for being made to afford fhelter and delight
to fo many living beings, and for other num-
berkfs ufes ;
Nay,
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 59
" Nay, they invite even fummer and
x^'inter to join the general chorus of praife ;
the changing I'eafbns fo neceffary to the health
of man and beaft, the growth and preferva-
tion of each herb and fruit-bearing tree, and
to the ripening of the fruits of the earth, by
which the whole is fuftained and filled with
gladnefs/'
And though thefe holy men were not fuch
deep philofophers as we boaft ourfelves to be,
they hereby fliewed that they had attained
to the chief end of all true philofophy, in
haling learned to read and trace out in his
works the hand and kindnefs of the One
Supreme, the benevolent creator, and divine
artift.
From thefe few inftances produced by you
out of the inexhaullible llore that remains
behind, we are able with fatisfaclion to fee
that the creator loveth all his creatures, and
has brought them all into life to bellow upon
|;hem a liappincfs fuited to them.
But what Itill more concerns us : You have
pointed out, and enabled us to difcern from
what
60 CONVERSATIONS aN THE
what fimple principles, and by what eafy
natural proceifes, the rational, moral cha-
racter is formed, and from primeval duft
and clay, whence we were firlt taken, be-
comes capable of rifing to fonje faint, though
infinitely diftant refemblance of the all good,
and all perfect being.
Yet I fear that this will be regarded merely
as beautiful theory ; and thefe fine capacities
of the rational nature thought to be beftowed
in vain> and never likely to be brought to
maturity, when M^e take a furv^y of the world
at large, and fcan what mankind have been
in all ages, and Itili are, in a moral view.
And I Ihould be led almoft to defpair, if
vou, Photinus, w^ere not to continue to give
us your kind help to explore what the mo-
mentous fubjeft will produce.
At
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 6l
At their next meeting, alter talking for
Ibme time together upon inditierent matters,
MarceUinus turned the difcourfe, obferving,
that as Pliotinus had Ihewn to their intire
latisfaftion, that the animal creation below
us, in all their infinite variety and gradations,
moft ufefully filled the places affigned them,
and were happy therein as far as we could
perceive and judge ; and was going on to in-
veftio^ate and afcertain how far the fame
could be faid of the human race, he thought
that to do full juftice to the fubje6l, it would
be neceflavj.to take in the hiftory of the
origin af mankind as delivered in- our facred
books ; and as there were different opinions
entertained about it, to have it in fome mea-
fure fettled amono- them, what credit was to
be given to that moft antient hiftory of all
others, how it is to be underftood, and what
is to be gathered from it. Concerning thefe
points, that the adjufting of them might not
divert Fhotinus from purfuing his main fub-
je6t, he fliould take the liberty to fubmit hisi
own fentimehts to them, which he had reafon
to believe were not much different from their
own, as it was a matter that had often fallen
in their way.
Now
62 CONVERSATIOXS ON THE
Now it feemed to be generally allowed,
by thofe who had fearched into, and were
beft qualified to form a right judgment con-
cerning the coimogony recorded in the en-
trance of the book of Genefis, that the ac-
count of things therein given had been
handed down to Mofcs from the firft parents
of mankind, through the channel of Noah
and his defcendants ; which, from the lon-
gevity of mankind at that period would not
need to pals through many hands ; and their
high importance would fecure diligence and
iidehty in the conveyance.
In< the firft three chapters of the book, we
have the moft momentous documents and in-
formation concerning the one true God, and
fole creator of all things, his chara6ter, and
that of his creature, man. We there learn,
what we might prefume to be the fa6i;, that
mankind were not left to themfelves, to the
inveftigations of reafon, to fpell out and ac-
quire the knowlege of the Being that made
them, and of their duty to him ; which,
though attainable by their natural powers,
would have been a matter of very flow opera-
tion and accomplifhment ; but that they re-
ceived
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 63
ceived this knowlege directly from God him-
felf ; deriving from the fame fource at the
iame time, the knowlege of language necef-
fary for their intercourfe ivith each other and
with their Maker. Trom the facls, and cir-
cumltances of the narrative we have the moft
probable grounds on which to build thefe
conclufions. But how this knovviege of a
primitive language was inftilled or acquired,
it is needlefs to afk. as it feems impoffible to
find out.
And although men have differed, and will
continue to ditler, in their interpretations of
the language and drefs, in which thefe im-
portant truths are clothed and conveyed ;
namely, what is called the tree of the know-
lege of good and evil ; the tree of life : the
ferpent's temptation, and his converl'ation
with Eve ; her eating of the forbidden fruit
at his inftigation, and giving it to Adam to
eat, and the fentence palled upon the feveral
oflenders by their creator and judge : much
of it undoubtedly couched in alleg^ory and
figurative expreffion ; as alfo literally to be
taken in other parts, which are at the foun-
dation ; (fee the reference to it, Mark x. 5, 6.)
yet
64 cONvEHsAtioj^s osr the
yet the moral inftruftion intended to be con-
veyed by the whole is not difficult to be un-
derftood, and, in this there has been a very
general harmony and concurrence. That,
for inftance, there is one God, the maker of
all things, and father of mankind, who formed
them in his own image, their moral gover-
nour, and judge ; who is delirous of their
happinefs, which can only be attained by
their obfervance of the laws he has made
known to them as a rule for their conduft,
annexing rewards to their obedience, and
threatening with punifhment their tranfgref-
fions.
I fhall only add, that, not far from the
entrance of Mr. Locke's " Reafonablenefs of
Chriftianity as delivered in the Scriptures,"
is 2i fpecimen of the manner in which that
judicious perfon was wont to interpret for
himfelf the hiftory of the fall of our fii-ft
parents, which, I have no doubt, you think
with me worthy of attention.
When Marcellinus had finilhed, Photinus
immediately rifmg up, remarked, that he had
not any doubt of their being all much fatis-
fied
DIVINE GOVERNMENt. 65
fied with what had been now fuggefted con-
cerning this moft interefting narrative of the
remoteft antiquity. For his part, he could
not but declare and acknowlege, that it
would relieve him much in the taik their
partiality had impofed on him^ to have fucli
21 foundation to pi^oeeed upon* With their
leave then, he would begin, and remind
them ; that having already fliewn, that man
had a moral nature^ in diftinftion from the
animals around him, by which he was fitted
for the fupreme happinefs, arifing from the
knowlege and worfhip of God, the fovereign
all-perfe6l Being, and from a refemblance to
him in goodnefs ; they were now to inquire
whether man attains that happinefs ? and
what his hiftory teaches us in this i'efpe6i ?
In the Bible, the oldefl and mofi authentic
hiftory of the world and of the human race,
as far as it goes, \ve find our lirft parents
placed originally in a moft happy ftation,
where obedience to their kind creator, in ob-
ferving his laws, iiijolned only for their good,
was their eafy duty< But they ungratefully
failed in it ; and as they were forewarnmi,
? paid
66 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
•paid the penalty of their .trani'greflion ; and,
though not particularly . informed of it, we
may not doubt of their punifhment hav^ing
its intended eft'e6t, in producing repentance
and future obedience.
The marks of human fraihy did not alas !
(top with them. Dire ielliih paffions Ibon
crept into their fmall tamily, and prompted
their eldeft fon, the moiifter Cainy through
envy, to take away tlie life of his more pious,
virtuous brother. But fell remorfe and mifery
fpeedily overtook him for the atrocious a6t.
And the fhock it would give to all that heard
of it ; and the lefibns upon it which our firft
parents would not tail to read, of the fatal
effe6ts of headltrong ungoverned paffion,
would contribute to contain others in their
duty, and be remembered for good.
Oi Enoch, one of the defcendants oi Adam
before the flood, it is recorded. Gen. v. 24.
that he walked with God, i. e. was one highly
., approved by him ; and was not ; for God
Miook /ti/w^' The phrafe, wms not, in itfelf ini-
- piles, that he died, ceafed to exift: but as
explained by what follows, ybr God took him,
it
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 6j
it here denotes, that he was removed out of
the world without dying. For lb the wor(^
is rendered, Gen. v. 24. by the greek tranflar
tors : where alfo, in the original hebrew, the
fame term is ufed, which is afterwards in
2 Kings ii. 3. in Ipeaking of Elijah bein^
taken up alive into heaven. And this fenf^
is confirmed by the apoltle, Hebrews xi. v.
By faith Enoch wastranjlatedy that hejiiould
not fee death ; and was not founds becaufa
God had tranjlated him : for before his tranf-^
lation he had this teflijnony that he pleafed
God.
This flriking event was an abfolute afTu-
rance to the antediluvians of a life after this,
which could not fail of making thedeepeil
impreffions upon them ; and its taking place
at this early period would be of infinite fer-
vice in teaching them, that the virtuous and
good, living and dying, were the peculiar
care af heaven.
Very little is preferved ,to us Gohcermng
the generations of mankind before the flood.
]iut we may prefume from the circumftances
of trial and difhculty in which human crea-
F 2 turtfs
68 CON'VERSATIOXS ON Tilt
tures are all placed, and their general belia^*
viour under them, that there would always
be a mixture of characters, good and bad,
more or lefs at different times. For a while,
the good W'Ould prevail, till by degrees they
fell away, and athers lefs virtuous and regular
fucceeded, and at length wickednefs and vio-
lence, we learn, rofe to fuch a height, that
the" almighty and merciful Being judged it
expedient to deflroy the whole race of men
from off the earth, all, except one righteous
man and his family.
This moft awful judicial a6l how'ever of his
moral government was not executed w ithout
giving them warning of his delign, and trying
to reclaim and amend them.^ For we are
informed in our facred books, that for very
many years Noah had a divine commiflion to
warn that evil generation of the juft judge-
ments impending over them, and to labour
to bring them off from their pernicious
courfes. Some, we may not doubt, would
be wrought upon fo as to have their evil dif-
pofitions changed and turned to God and
goodnefs, whether by the pious remonffrances
of Noah alone, or of others joined with hiip ;
although
DIVINE QOVERNMENT. 69
although it was not poffible to ftem the tor-
rent of wickednelti, which by the decrees of
heaven brought on the deltrudion of that
incorrigible race. Yet we cannot refrain
from remarking, how in the mjdft of judge-
ment the Almighty remembered mercy, in
I'weeping them away at once by a death thq
mod ealy of all others.
Thus did they fuffer for their extreme
wickednefs, and violation of the divine com-
mands ; and became the means of exaltilig
the virtue of thofe, who affe6lionately and
earneftly flrove, though in vain, to bring
them to virtue and an obedience to the divine
will.
It has not pleufed the Divine Wifdom to
gratify us with many things that we might-
have wiflied to know concerning Noah, the
fecond father of our race : He that had feeix
the whole fpecies cut off for their fms, and
his family alone fpared. How powerful and
afife6tin2: i'o Ions: as he lived mull have been
his tellimony of the one true God and Maker
?3 of
7-0 CONVERSATIOXS ON THE
of all things ; of his goodnefs in bringing
creatures into hfe to make them happy by an
obedience to his laws ; his jiift abhorrence of
all fm and wickedneft. This knowlege he
would be cai'eful to inculcate on his children
and his children's children in a long fuccef-
{lon. And that there was fuch important
knowlege derived from this fource and circu-
lated through all tiations, is manifeft from the
accounts of the ilate of the world which are
preferved to us.
After the flood, the repeopling of the earth
would be promoted by' different families ori-
ginating from Noah and his fons, which car-
ried with them in their difpei*fions, thefe great
truths.
It is a noble atteftation to the truth of the
Mofaic hiftory which is given by Sir Ifaac
Newton, in his " Chronology of antient
Kingdo;ms amended," by ihewing its agree-
nient with the aftual (late of the world and
.condition of its inhabitants, as exhibited in
the imperfeel accounts of them handed down
lb; iis^V, He, thence obferves, p. 188, " that
the wbfffiip. of Ihe true God continued to the
lime
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 71
-time of Abraham and Melchizedek, and that
it was not till tbeir days, tliat men fell away
to the w'orihip of falfe gods, which were pro-
bably the heavenly holt, the fun, moon ancjl
ftars ; and that it was to avoid this, which
then began in Chaldea, and ipread from
thence, but had not yet reached the land of
Canaan, thsit Abraham left IJr of the thai-
deans, to go by riaran into the land of
Canaan, being called out by divine provi-
dence from among his kindred, who were
beginning to be infefted with it; and this
great author concludes the firft chapter of
his diligent and exa6t fearch into the Scrip-
tures and antiquity, with this general deduc-
tion, p. ^190. " So then, the believing thai
the world zvas framed by one Jupreme God,
and is governed by htm ; and the loving and
worfliipping him, and honouring our parents,
and loving our neighbours as ourj'elves, and
being merciful even to brute beajis, is the
oldeft of all religions. He had juft before
called this, the primitive religion of jews and '
ehriftians ; wfueh, adds he, ought to be the
fianding religion of all rwtions, it being for
the honour of God and the good of itiankind:
F 4 Hardly
72 CONVEXISATIOKS ON TliE
Hardly tliroughput all anticjuity iliall we
ftnd a more dignified and accompHihed perfou
than Abraham ', of great wifdom and inte-
grity ; of a generous independent ipirit, and
true fortitude; famed over all the Ealt for
his virtues, and diitinguifhed as a worfhipper
of the one true God, in "vyhich he carefully
inftru^ttid his family and dependents : and in
thofe days his kno\yn and avowed principles
and example muft have been of fervice in
difcouritenancing and reftraining men from
the worfljip of falfe gods, ^vhich was then
beginning to be fet up ; ^nd the more, as hig
travelling into different countries would caufe
him to be much inquired ^fter a^d known.
Much to be noted is the account given by
the facred hiitorian o^ Abraham's interceflion
with the Divine Being in behalf of the fmful
inhabitants pf Sodom and Gomorrha. This
mo it probably pafTed in vihon, whilit he was
praying ; (the Hke to which is recorded, in
later times, of the devout roman centurion,
and of the apoftle Feter, Ads :^.) for juft
before it happened. Gen. xviii. 22. it is faid,
Abraham flood before God, i. e. was praying
DIVINE GOVERNMENT, 7^
to him, as the phrafe is underftood by the befl
interpreters.
How edifying this firft reprefentation that
is handed down to us, in the annals of the
>vorld, of a creature admitted to cpnverfe
by prayer with his creator | and what a pat^
t;ern of devotion to us even in thefe enhght-
ened times ! AbraJisim requefts nothing
for himfelf, but with profound humihty,
moved by a benevolent concern for the mofi
horrible crimes of his fellow creatures, he,
by various arguments in their behalf, pleads
for their being faved from impending de-
ftruclion, that tbey might have fpace to re-
pent. Whilfl pn the pther hand, with infi-
nite condefcenfion and kindnefs, the Almighty
Jiftens and replies to hjs pleas, convincing
him, that had not their difpofitions been
turned to evil beyond a pofiibility of being
changed by any ordinary means, his prayer
would have been granted and they would
have been fpared.
With regard to the particular fin of the
jnhtibitants of thofe cities, for which the
divine
74 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
divine judgments were ready to fall on them,
and which this pious good man prayed might
be averted ; it is a crime which beipeaks the
higheft depravity, if not a total moral ini'en-
fibility and alienation of mind from God
and goodnefs. And it. is probable that fuch
an early declaration from heaven againft it,
in the deftruclion of Sodom and Gomorrha
by fire, the traces of which remain unto this
day, difplayed in fo tremendous a manner
before Abraham and his family ; with the
fevere ftigma and condemnation pafTed upon
all fuch crimes afterwards, in the law of
Mofes : thefe circumftances, all together,
fixed and left fuch a deep indehbie impreffion
and horror upon the minds of his chofen
race, as have been the means of preferving
them at all times. from fuch unnatural de-
bafmg vice. For we never find their pro-
phets, in the long catalogue of their crimes,
laying this particularly to their charge. And
in their difperfion into other countries, fore-
told by their prophets, whilft the heathens
among whom they fojourned' were many of
them, infamous for it, the greeks and romans
in their moft poliflied and improved ftate by
no
DIVIXE GOVERNMENT. f^
no means excepted ; and the followers of
Mahomet horribly guilty, the nation of the
jews has in general been unpolluted wdth it.
Of Lot, the nephew of Abraham, it is
recorded, 2 Peter ii. 6, 7? 8. that he w^as
filled with deep concern for the extreme
wickednefs of the inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrha, a mark of a truly virtuous mind,
to be concerned for God and his holy laws,
atid the happinefs of his fellow-creatures in
their obedience to them. But concerning
thefe diftinguidied perfons, Noah, Abraham,
and Lot, and fome other worthy charafters
among the anceftors of the Ifraelites in thofe
early ages, there are unqueftionably fome
things recorded which are by no means to
their credit, or to be imitated by. us : a cir-
-cumftance which does honour to the facred
hiftorian, ihewing him to be a61:uated by a
regard to truth only in what he related, and
refolv ed to tell things as they really happened,
however it might make againft fome of the
moft favourite charafters of his nation.
O^
76 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
Of Mofes the divine lawgiver of the Ifrael-
ites, and his early preference of virtue and
obedience to God to the highefl worldly
dignities and enjoyment, we have an impor-
tant teftimony, Heb. xi. 24, 25, 26, con-
firmed by every thing we know concerning
him. From the time that he had a divine
call to deliver his countrymen out of bondage
in Egypt, and to fettle them in the land of
Canaan, he led a life of inceffant toil, and
anxiety, and contradi6i:ion, in having to
ilruggle with their low bafe minds, and ob-*
ftinate untraciable tempers, which their long
flavery had generated and rivetted in them ;
by which his patience and magnanimity were
called forth and exercifed ; devoting himfelf
and all his powers to bring them off from
this flavery of vice and evil paffions, the
worft of all others : for which he had no re-
ward to look for in this world, but the fatis-
fadion of doing them good and approving
himfelf to God.
His wifdom and virtues we find were
known and revered far and near among the
gentiles; and the excellent laws which he
l^id down for his people, taught and excited
^lany
DIVINE GOVERNlVlENt. 77
many in different countries to honour the
true God, and to be ferviceable to their
fellow creatures in bringing them from a
rude and favage and immoral life to a fubjec-
tion to laws for the public good.
No one can rife up from peruling the
hiftory of his life and times, as given us by
himfelf ; the admirable laws and inftitutions
he prefcribed, to teach the Ifraelites the
knowlege and worfhip of Jehovan, the one
true God, and of him alone ; the laws for
their living together in fociety, and promoting
their mutual happinefs, with the mighty
works he was enabled to do in Egypt for the
eftabliihment of his divine miffion, and for
the emancipation of his countrymen, and to
preferve them afterwards in their duty and
obedience ; without feeing throughout the
extraordinary hand and leading of God.
And it is againfl all credibility, that one,
governed by fuch excellent principles ; exhi-
biting in all his a6tions fuch an example of
true piety and goodnefs ; fuogefting continu-
ally to his countrymen the great things God
had done for them, appealing to them fre-
quently
78 CONVERSATIONS, ON TUB
quently at the time, and upon the very fpot,
and exhorting them to gratitude and obedi-
ence on that account ; fhould be under a de-
Julion hirafeh', or fliould in all this be acting
a part and deceiving them. The mind re-
volts at the fuppolition : An unperverted un-
derllanding can need no other proof that
Mofes had a commillion and authority from
God to teach and to a6l as he did.
And in the fame way of argument, it was
not in the nature of things, if human beings
were the fame then as now, that the Ifraelites
fliould be perfuaded of their being delivered
out of Egypt by a miraculous interpofition
from heaven in their favour, and, of their
being fupported afterwards by the divine
power in the wildernefs; fliould continue to
he affifted in the fame extraordinary way in
overcoming their enemies, by walls of defence
(Jofliua vi. 20, 21.) falling down before,
them ; by rivers dividing (Jofliua iii. 5, to
the end) to make way for their pafling them ;
that thefe and the like miraculous events in
their favour fliould be the theme of their
lacred fongs and public hymns of thankf-
giving to God their almighty deliverer at
the
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 79
tlie time and ever after to this hour, and vet
never to have reall}^ taken place, but to have
been a mais of prieftly and pohtical con-
trivance ; in which the whole nation com-
bined or were impofed on, till in thefe later
ages the impolition was difcovered.
Affuredly thofe perfons are true objefts of
pity, who through fome unfortunate bias on
their minds, are led to reje6l an hillory of
fa6ls fo w^ell authenticated as thofe which
have Mofcs for their author ; which, befides
this moft cogent internal proof now produced,
is fupported by all the external evidence
which can reafonably be required ; for which
Grotius, and others may be confulted by all
who are competent to make the refearch.
One is the more concerned for this incre-
dulity, becaufe the rejection of the im-
portant truths conveyed in thefe books, moft
commonly fprings from a fixed determination
not to admit anv accounts, however well at-
tefted, of divine extraordinary communica-
■ tions and revelations to mankind ; by w hich
they deprive themfelves of the unfpeakable
fatis-
8
80 CbifVERSATION^ ON TliE
fatisfa6lion thereby afforded, that the world
and all things in it, efpecially the moral
world, have been from the firfl and are under
the fpecial government and dire6lion of its
creator ; who appoints tlie different and fuc-
ceffive advantages of light and knowlege, and
means of virtuous improvement.
Indeed where any one. for inflancej is pcr-
fuaded) that Mofes in his hiitory afcribes to
the Almighty what is inconfiiient with his
attributes of juftice and goodnefs ; or intro-
duces him as injoining or giving encourage-
ment to any thing vicious or immoralj or that
is injurious to their fellow-creatures ; fo long
as he remains under this perfuafion, and can-
not be brought to fee his error by the argu-
ments laid before him, you can only be forry
for him, and wilh him a mind more teachable
and better informed.
With regard to the extermination of the
Canaanitiili nations, the sreatffinnblinsi-block
of the day, and objection to the reception of
Mofes as a divine prophet and law-giver ; and
the particular command given by him not to
fpare infant children where a general de-
itruftion
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 81
{^niclion was to take place ; it feems not to
1)6 needed to fkreen and jufiify it by a refe-
rence to the fame thing taking place in the
divine natural government, where whole dil-
tri6ls, infants and groMn perfons are pro-
nui'cuouily deftroyed by earthquakes and the
like ; as this is a defence, which fome are dif-
fatisfied with, not holding the cafes to be
parallel. It was a fufficient juftification for
the thing, that there was the divine com-
mand for it ; fufficient for all, who believe in
a God of all perfe6lion and goodnefs, the
moral governor of his creatures, and we can
have no difpute with any others : for he can
command nothing but what is beneficial and
good to all, even to thole who at prefent fuffer
by it. It is only neceflary to be fatisfied that
it is his command, and we are to obey.
Now we have feen above, that there can
be no ground to queftion the veracity of
Mofes, in what he fo frequently declares, that
it was the command of CJod to the Ifraelites
by him, to exterminate thole nations and
take poffefiion of thei^^land, for that moft
important reafon fo often affigned, left ihei^
make thee Jin againji me.
G The
82 CONVERSATIONS ON TBE
The Il'raelites alio, belides the command
of God given them by Mo/es, were further
aflured, from the divine extraordinary aflill-
ance Vouchfafcd to. them in overcoming the
Canaanites, that they afted by a divine com-
mand in invading and taking polTeffion of
the country; in which, without exprefs en-
couragement from the Almighty, they would
have been no better than robbers and mur-
derers»
The Canaanites themfelves a]fo had notice
and warning given them of what was coming
iUpon them, and for what caufe ; which is
plain from what Rahah the hoftefs related
to the fpies whom Ihe had concealed, Jolhua
ii. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. and what the Gibeonites
afterwards declare to JoJJnia, ix. 3, &c. fo
that the body of the people were perfuaded
that the Ifraelites came againft them by a
commiflion from the fupreme God and pol^
feffor of heaven and earth ; who in a6ting by
his authority, violated no law of nature, nor
did any injury to the Canaanites in dilpoflefs-
ing tliem.
Th<
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 83
The feverity however of thefe awful judg-
ments upon thefe nations, for their extreme
wickedneis, of which the Ifraehtes were made
the inilrumeuts, was not in that degree, or
to that extent which has been fuppofed. This
has been maintained with gfeat ftrength of
argument, by learned and impartial judges ;
Maimonides and others of the firft account
among the jews ; and by very many chriilians
of our own and other countries, in particular
by Grotius, who, on Deut. xx. 10, maintains
that the law Exod. xxiii. 31, 32, 33, and
Deut. vii. 1, 2, was to be extended only to
luch of thefe people as did not furrender
themfelves on being fummoned ; as is evident
from JoHiua xi. 19, 20. Their being com-
manded to fave alive nothing that breatheth,
Deut. XX. l6, is to be underftood only in cafe
they did not furrender when fummoned,
but rejected the conditions of peace offered
to them.
But perhaps with regard to that extreme
inhumanity and barbarity which is imputed
to the Ifraelites, and i'uppofed to be injoined
by Almighty God to be exercifed upon the
Canaanites to their utter extermination, the
G 2 beft
84 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
bed refutation, is the ta6l itielf, that they
were by no means all deftroyed or extermi-
nated : but were left and continued to dwell
among the Ifraelites under their judges and
their kings, even David himfelf ; who cer-
tainly would not have peniiitted what was
dire6lly forbidden by God.
It is ever to be remembered, that it was
not merely for their idolatry, though that
alone be often named ; but as it was con-
neded with mod abominable impure as well
as inhuman rites, which made a part of it,
and with which it was always accompanied,
that thefe nations of Canaan were to be ex-
terminated. For it is not for his own fyke
that the Almighty requires or declares hinii^
felf to have pleafure in our religious worfliip
and homage, of himfelf alone and of no other
befides him ; but becauie it is neceliary for
our own perfe6tion and happinefs, and to
keep us from falling into the groflfelt igno-
rance, bigotry and fuperftition, and moll
cruel malignant difpofitions to our fellow-
creatures *.
* See, in n>any parts of it, that laft and moft invalu-
able work, his Cmnparifoji of the Injiitutions of Mofes
'Kith tlwfe of the Hindoos^ of my moft beloved friend,
Dr.
DIVINE GOVERNMENT, B5
The expedience and need of this great
^verity againft the idolatry of the Canaanites,
to check and prevent its fpreading, appeared
from the pronenefs of the Ifraehtes, and their
continual relapfing into it under their judges
and their kings, till their captivity in Babylon.
And the honeft, unflattering account which
their hiftorians tlii'oughout give of their cri-
minality in this refpeft, is a proof of the
genuinenefs of their narratives, which niuft
be agreeable to all lovers of truth, though
they will lament the horrid degeneracy which
they defcribe. But in the midft of it, in the
w'orft times, there were many thoufands who
did not bow the knee to Baal ; and even
fome of their princes had the virtue and the
(Courage to attempt a reformation ; and not a
few among their prophets fell a facrifice to
their boldnefs and efforts to bring their
countrymen off from their abominable vice
and worfliip of their falfe Gods, Ileb. xi.
36—38.
Dr.Prleftley. Although now far feparated during this tran-
fitory life, on the verge of vvhich we both ftand, there is
humble hope of meeting again when the fleep of death
is over, His numerous works will continue to enlighteri
the world, till the only true God be more univerfally
known ; and the pure goipel of Jefus, his meflenger, hav?
it$ natural influence.
G 3 IXuring
86 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
During the many ages, whilft the Ifraelites
were a6ling, feme worthily, others much the
contrary, under their greater hght and ad-
vantages; among the reft of the nations,
thofe efj)ecially who dwelt neareft and had
intercourfe with them, enjoyed the means of
becoming acquainted with the knowlege of
the one true God ; and muft have benefited
much by it, and alfo by obferving the puni{h-
ments which this people of God drew on
themfelves, by falling off to the impure rites
and worlliip of falfe gods : and under their
difpenfation, and with their lefler light, many
wife and excellent charafters were formed,
who laboured to do good and improve others.
Among thefe heathens there might -be,
and certainly there were, many diftinguilhed
patterns of excellence, who were bleffmgs to
mankind, although they met with no hifto-
rian to hand down their merits and example
to thofe that came after them. But we have
undoubted records of one perfon, who fhewed
hy his moral and intelle6lual acquirements,
how far the light of nature could go, and
what philofophy was able to elfed. And it
may ferve to humble, and to fhame us into
a better
DIVINE GOVERXMENT. 87
n better conduct, to retle6l how far we fall
iliort of his attainments, and creep below him
in moral excellence, many of us, in the midft
of our blaze of light and advantages from
divine revelation.
This was Soct^ates, the fon of Sophronifcus^
an Athenian ftatuarj, bred to his father's
profeffion, in which he pra6tifed for a while
and excelled ; but very Ibon applied himfelf
wholly to the ftudy of philofophy, principally
that branch hitherto little cultivated, which
related to the knowlege of nature and its
author, and the duties men owed to him and
to one another : He thus flood forth at once
the moil extraordinary example the world
had ever yet feen, of devoting himfelf, his
time and talents to inftruft his fellow-citizens,
and reform their lives and manners ; with
great fimplicity addreffmg himfelf to all he
met with to do them good ; feeking no benefit
for himfelf, nor ever taking money of the
numerous fcholars who attended him, as did
other philofophers ; contented to live in poor
circumflances the better to promote his vir-
tuous, purpofes, when, had he not refufed
them, he might have enjoyed great riches.
G 4 In
8S CONVERSATIONS ON THE
In the midft of all, he difcharged the duties
of a good citizen ; in time of war with fingular
courage and humanity in defence of his
country ; and at other times filling the diffe-
rent offices he was called to in his turn, in
the commonwealth, with fidelity to his truft,
and the moft perfe6i difiiitereftednefs.
Plis general manner was, with chearfulnef^
and pleafantry to join in converfation with
thofe that fell in his way, wh^sn by apt and
eafy queftions, without oftentation or pre-
tences to fuperior wifdom he fought to draw
them forth, and lead them by degrees to the
point he aimed at; which was to find out
their own ignoranccj and defefts, and to
correct them.
In this work^ for which he believed himfelf
to have a divine call, he was unwearied ; and
going on in the fame virtuous train, through
the courfe of a long life, in the midft of obloquy
and contradi6lion from many, but moft highly
revered and efteemed by others, he was at laft
put to death moft unjuftly, on the accufation
of two of his fellow-citizensj whom he had
exafr
DIVIDE GOVERNMENT. 89
exai'perated by the -feverity of his rebukes.
This however would not have taken place,
had not ei>vy of his fuperior virtue, which
they were afraid of, wrought upon his fellow^
citizens and the people at large, to connive
at fuch vile and iniquitous proceedings.
It is a very humiliating confideration, that
in thefe moft polilhed times of Greece, when
fcience and philofophy were at their higheft
fummit, nothing effectual was done to diminiili
or put an end to the groffeft public idolatry,
in the worftiip' of gods, who had been men
and women of infamous chara6lers ; but grave
magiftrates and philofophers, even Socraits
among the reft, were feen promifcuoufly fre-
quenting their temples, and joining the com-
mon herd of their worfliippers. The in-
dictment however, under which he fullered,
may feem to imply the contrary. It was in
this form. " Socrates violates the law in not
l>elicving tlie gods which the ftate believes,
])ut introduces other new gods. He violates
likewife the law in corrupting the youth.
The puniilmient death." And he certainly
was not guiitlefs of this charge. For in his
public
90 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
public le6lures, and general intercourfe with
his fellow-citizens, he frequently took occafion
to (hew the abfurdity of the popular belief,
in pointing to the fcandalous hiftories of their
gods and goddeffes, endeavouring to inftil
jufter fentiments of the deity into their minds ;
to which his profecutors, in their accufation
of him, plainly alluded : fo that he unquef-
tionably died a martyr to his zeal for virtue,
and againll the worfhip of falfe gods.
Here Volufian interpoling, begged leave to
{-ay^ that he believed few venerated that in-
comparable perfon more than himfelf ; but
he was apprehenfive that fo high a teftimony
of him as that juft now given, would not
eafily pafs, unlefs fome farther apology was
made for him, for his appearing to diflemble
his better knowlege, and giving countenance,
by frequenting it, to the worfhip of their
gods, whofe chara6ters and examples he
muft have detefted. It is a very fevere fen-
tence, which a learned and worthy man* has
* A Defence of a Difcourfe on the ImpoJJibiliti/ of
proving a future State by the Light of Nature ; p- 100,
101. By Jofeph Hallet, junior. London, printed for
Moon. 1731.
palTed
BIVi:NrE GOVERXMENT. 91
pafled upon him in this refpeft, where he
obferves, " It has been pleaded in behalf
of Socrates^ and other philofophers, that
though they have attended on the idolatrous
vvorftiip in the heathen temples, they ftill re-
tained the knowlege and belief of the one
true God, and perhaps worfhipped him in
their clofets and in their thoughts. If this
be fa6l, proceeds the fame author, then it
muft be fuppofed, that thefe are the very
men whom the apoftle fpeaks of as holding
the truth in unrighteoufnefs, i. e. imprifon-
ing, fupprefling and concealing in their own
minds, in an unrighteous manner, that know-
lege of the true God, to which they had at-
tained by the contemplation of his works.
Againji Juch, the apoftle faith, the wrath of
God is revealed. Rom. i. 18/'
This was advanced in the heat of contro-
verfy, which feldom allows us to judge with
calmnefs and equit}^ It may be alleged how-
ever, in defence of the conduct of Socrates;
that the worlhip of the one God and of none
other befides him, might not appear of that
confequence to him, which it moft juftly
does to us chriftians, and to the jews, who
have
92 COXVERSATIOKS ON THE
have the benefit of divine Revelation. He
might alfo think it better for his countrymen
to have fome rehgion, however corrupt, than
to be wholly without any ; an4 might hope,
that his unceafmg labours to combat their
errors and prejudices, and throw light into
their minds, efpecially thofe of the rifmg
generation, and to guard them againll fuper-
ilition ; would in time lead to purer fenUx
ments of God and religion ; and that the
feed he had taken fuch pains to fow, Mould
come up and bear fruit.
But his principal defence muft be reited
on this ; that he did not ufe any compliances
in the worfliip of the gods of the country,
out of any mean views to his own interefl, or
fafety, or from any other unworthy motive ;
but purely for the good of his fellow-citizens,
the better to bring them to truth and virtue;
which appeared by his calm fortitude and
noble manner of voluntarily giving up his life
at laft, when he might eafily have retained it :
than which nothing equally edifying is to be
found in all heathen antiquity.
In
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 9*3
In the interval that followed, during the
bright days of Greece and Rome for tlie
fpace of 400 years, trial was made what was
the utmoft eile^l of that light which had been
lent to mankind, whether as derived by tra-
dition from our firil; parents ; or when tliat
grew faint and dim, what was farther itruck
out by their natural powers and the improve-
ments of fcience to meliorate the condition
and reform the manners of the human race,
and lead them to virtue and the trueknowlege
of God.
. What progrefs was made in thefe refpe^ts
is to be gathered from the hiftorians and
writers that have come down to us, Cicero
more efpecially, who flouriihed towards the
clofe of this period, and was the beft man of
thofe trying times in which he lived, and the
fined moral writer, as well as the moft en-
lightened, before the world was illumined by
the gofpel.
By him, and by all that had gone before
him, who filled the firft ftations in their diffe-
rent commonwealths, and who wiihed well to
mankind, the chara6ler of Spcrates- was held
1 in
C)4 co^•'vEKSATIo^s ox the
in the higlicft veneration and invariablv com-
mended ; but no one had the courage to
follow his example. The utmoft reformation
aimed at was the introduction of wiier plans
of government, for the prefervation of good
order and the peace of fociety. Nothing
was done to put men upon attending to the
inward principle of their a6tions, and amend-
ing their difpofitions, in which all true virtue
conlifls. Nothing could even he expe6ted
to be attempted of a public nature to recover
men to the knowlege of the true God and
their obedience to him, whilft the public re-
ligion, every where, in all countries, coniifted
in the adoration of gods, who had bee}»
mortal men, guihy of great crimes and im-
moralities, and whofe worlhip was carried on,
by rites and ceremonies of the mofl profligate
nature, whi('h decency forbids to name ; and
to which the bulk of the people in all coun-
tries were immoderdtcly attached.
The feafon now approached, when as Paid
tells the Athenians, the maker and governor
of all things, who had at no iime failed to
cherifh
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 95
cherifh and fupport all his rational offspring,
of which he was the common parent ; having
hitherto left the heathen world to themfelves
and to the guidance of their natural powers
and feculties, which ought in all reafon to
have led them to God and their duty to him,
and to each other ; did now in the councils
of his fovereign wifdom, judge proper not to
fuffer them to go on any longer in their own
ways, without w arning them of their departure
from their allegiance to him, and from their
true happinefs. The times of this ignorance,
fays the apoftle, (landing in the midft of the
court, where cognizance was taken of fuch
matters, God ninked at; hut now com-
mandeth all men every where to repent : be-
caufe he hath fixed a day in the z^hich he will
judge the world according toju/iice, by a man
whom he hath appointed; whereof he hath
given affurance unto all men, in that he hath
raifed him from the dead, A6ls xvii, 30, 31.
A new ajra was now to commence among
the rational creatures of God, to all of whom,
every where, this his folemn decree and com-
mand was to be made known by the preach-
ing of the gofpel.
6 IMen
96 CONVERSATtONS ON TH£
Men were not now to reft in any lefler
attainments in virtue ; but to aim at the
higheft excellency, a refemblance in goodnefs
to the Divine Being himlelf. For this is
what the great teacher lays doAvn, and which
he exemplified in all his actions ; a finilhed
pattern of piety and goodnefs in a creature,
beyond which our higheft ideas cannot go.
Matth. V. 44, 45. Ifil/ ^''^^^ 7/ou, love your
ejietnies, do good to them that hate you^ and
pi'ay for them which dejptefulli/ ufe yoUy and
perfecute you ; that ye may be the children of
your father which is in heaven^ for he maketh
his fun to rife on the evil and on the goody
and fend eth rain on thejufi^ and on the unjuji.
When he immediately adds ; For if ye love
them zchich love you, what rexi)ard have ye to
expedt ? Do not even the publicans the fame ?
and if ye falute your hi'ethren only, what do
you more than others ? Do not evcfi the pub-
licans fo f as though he had faid ; The moft
felfilh will take pains to do good, and to ferve
others, whilft they find their prefent account
and advantage in it. But a different con-
duct was required, a more lublime morality
was prefcribed to his followers. Whatever
futfcring or injurious ufage they might meet
with
DIVINE Government. 97
with from others, they were not to be hin-
dered thereby from doing them all the good
in their power ; and they were to make it
their bufmefs to promote the virtue, tlie pre-
fent and future happinefs of their fellow-
creature, at the rifque of their own eafe and
comfort, anj even, when duty called them,
of life itfelf
Efforts like thefe, according to their dif^
ferent lituations, opportunities^ and abilities,
are indifpenfably bound upon all chriftians,
without exception. This was the new do6trine
promulged from heaven, holding forth the
iiipreme love of God the common creator
and benefa6tor, manifefting itfelf in the love
of their fellow-creatures, and feeking their
good as their own, as the fum and fubftance
of all human duty and of all true religion,
and leading to the higheft perfection and
happinefs.
Moft confpicuous were the happy ef!e6ls of
the gofpel at firft, in reforming the lives of
thofe in every country who received it : And
if mankind had been contented with it, as
delivered by its firft great teacher, it is not
H , too
9(8 C0:»rJERSATIOyS ON THE
too iiw<:h to fay, that long before this day,
tlie whole world would have been won over to
eml^raoe it. But when it became perverted
fiX)m its genuine limplicity ; and to profelyte
men to the belief of certain opinions was held
the chief point, and not to convert them
from vice, to vi-itiie aijd a -good life, it loon
began to lofe its falutary efficacy upon the
minds of men ; and though multitudes con-
tinued to be added to the number of its pro-
feflbrs, they did not become better men in
practice.
Eiidlefs difputes and quarrels about their
feveral fuperititious notions, and inventions
in religion, grafted on the. goi^el, foon filled
them with rancour and implacable animofities
againft each other, which often proceeded to
bloodAied ; and tliey loft . what w as moft
valuable in roligion, thi'ir charity towards
each other, whilft contending for.Aiadows.
And in the courfe of a few centuries, and at
"the beginning of the fev cnth, chriftians were
become not only .moit ho;*ridly c<^praved in
aiioral pradice, and iunk into, the moft abje6t
jiiiperitition ; but bad luultiplied to th(^mfelves
fo mimy dilFereiit- objects.. 9f worihip, the
'^ mother
DIVINE OPV^RNMEJirTi
hiother of Chrift and other dead perfons,
called Saints, male and female ; a trinity of
three perfons in God, inftead of the fingfe
perfon of the God and father of the univer%,
the God and father of our Lord Jefus Chrift
end of all mankind ; that to preferve this
mofl important do6lrine from being over-
whelmed and loll in chrifiian idolatry, 9$
alfo to punilh chriftians for their iiegle6l -ani
abufe of the fuperior light they enjoyed, tfe
divine providence feems to have permitteid
the Arabian impoftor Mohammed to fucceed
in his ambitious defigns, and in fpreading his
new religion over a great part of the globg.
This new relii.ion he profeflfed to build upon
the foundation of the Divine Unity, as
taught by MofeSi and by Jcfiis Ckri/i, which
waSj as he too juftly maintained, intirely cor-
rupted and abandoned by the followers of
the latter. And fome refpe6lable hiflorians,
who are difpofed to be candid towards this
extraordinary perfon, relate ; tliat be at {irH
fet out under ferious impreflions^ and iincere
concern of mind at the prevalence of idolatry
among his countrymen the Arabians, as wall
as the chriftians univerfally.
ii 2 That
100 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
. Tliat he fliould afterwards take fuch a
horrible*way to put down idolatry, and to
propagate the knowlege and worfhip of one
God only, by the fword and utter deftruc-
.tion, where any refufed or heiitated to em-
brace, his new religion when propofed to
them, was to proclaim immediately the falfe-
^hood of his own pretenfions to be a prophet
.from God, to all who had any right difcern-
ment what God is. For it is impoflible that
a Being, in whom dwelleth the moft perfe6l
truth and goodi^efs, can be pleafed with, or
^ approve the coiiipelling of his miftaken and
misjudging creatures to abandon their errors
concerning himfelf by outward force and in-
timidation ; for thefe can only produce a
feigned aflent, and not real conviction which
can alone be brought about by argument and
perfuafion.
..Moti unliapp}^ have been the effe6ls of
tliis violence againft their fellow creatures on
account of differences in religion, this into-
lerant and anathematizing fpirit againft chrif-
tians as idolaters, taught and enjoined by
this falfe prophet to his followers. Thus
])lanted and rooted in them, as a principal
part
4
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. XOf
part of their religion, it has from the firft,'
infpired them every where, who are computed
to make one third at leaft of the habitable
world, with the moft bitter hatred and en-
mity to all that bear the name of chrijliajij
conlidering them as idolaters, ajid hated of
God ; fo as in general even to refufe them
the common offices of humanity on that ac-
count, and to aflbrd them no better appella-
tion than that of dogs, and treat them with
all manner of indignity, where they have no
further power to hurt them. Of which
temper, at this very day, Mr. Mitngo Park
has lately given us fome curious fa6ls.
For many long ages after Mohammed, his
fucceflbrs, by the furioulhefs of their zeal to
propagate his religion and put down idolatry,
were the inltruments. of providence in inflict-
ing the moft dreadful calamities upon chrif-
tians, which were obferved to fall on thofe
countries, where the groHeft corruptions of
religion had p^e^ ailed; in Greece and in the
Eattern parts of the roman empire ; and in
the progrefs of their arms and fuccefs, they
feized and poflefled themlelves of many of
jthe countries they conquered. Sg that in
« 3 thft
t(^ CCJNVRRSATIOWS ON TU]B
tltft councils of heaven, and according to the
jftethods- of the divine government, by which
jaadons as Well as indi^ iduals, are often ob-
ferved to be derived of the light and advan-
tages which they (light and mifufe ; thefe
fierce invaders were permitted nearly to extin-
guifti the light of the gofpel, in many places
where it had been fucceisfully preached and
planted by the apoftles of Chrift ; and ftrove
^ eftabhlh by force the do6lrine of their
falfe prophet in its room ; where among thofe
of them ivho unhappily embraced it, it re-
jtiains to this day, in all the d^rknefs, imbeci-
lity, narrowhefs and cruelty, which fucli in-^
tolerance in religion naturally engenders, and
in which it mull ever terminate.
j^hotmiis here paufmg a little, Volujiauy
witi^ fome emotion ftarted up, crying out;
'vviiat ihall vye fay, Photmus, to the fyftem of
religion, whicb you have been exhibiting,
pretending to come- from God, when it's firft
article is a dire6t violation of the laws of na^
ture and of God, in compelling by force to
ackttowlege and worlhip him'.
AiTuredly"
DIVINE GOVERNMESrX. IQ$
Affuredly thefe horrible effects fliew the
pretended prophet who teaches fiich a- doc-
trine, not to be of God, but the angel of the
boftomlefs pit, of the infernal regions, as
Mohammed and his fucceflbrs are defcribedi
Revelation ix. 11.
Behold here the fatal confequences of
forcing the confciences of men. So far from
being of fervice in bringing tliem to piety
and virtue and a due reverence for and obe-
dience to that Almighty Being, the oue only
God, for whofe honour Mohammed and his
followers profeis to be particularly zealous
and concerned, we may appeal to the exper
rience and teftimony of twelve hundred years
(for fo long this religion has been widely
fpread and eltabliihed) whether it's numerous
converts, inftead of becoming wiier, and
better, and happier thereby in any degree,
have not been made far worfe in all thefe re-
fpe6ls, and at fome times, and in fome places,
more abominably vicious and addicted to the
vileft paflions, and lying heavier upon the
peace and happinefs of their fellow creatures,
and more holtile and cruel towards them,
than if they had been without any religion,
or belief of God at all.
H 4 Yet
104 COXVERSATIOXS ON THE
Yet it becomes not chriftians to condemn
Mohammedans for their intolerance and cru-
elty, in forcing the confciences of other men,
or to flinor the firfl Hone at them on that ac-
count. For the fpirit of domination over
the minds and confciences of others ; of dic-
tating to them what they were to believe to
obtain the favour of God, and of puniibing
them in various ways, by lofs of fame and
of worldly fubflance, by bodily tortures, im-
prifonment, lofs of liberty and life at laft, if
they did not comply and fubmit to them,
began early amongft chriftians, as foon as they
were permitted to aflume a temporal autho-
rity over their brethren ; and has continued
to this hour.
To what a degree it took place in the great
churches of the JEaft and Weft, and their
nunierous dependencies, needeth not to be
named : All ecclefiaftical hiftory is full of it.
At. the Reformation, thofe countries which
feparated themfelves from the church of
Rome, and relinquiihed Ibme of it's error?,
retained this the greateit of all, a tyranny
over the confciences of their fellow chriftians.
It is to be lamented, that the dift'erent con-
gregations
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 105
Sfresraiions of Protedants anion"; ourfelve.?,
whether thofe endowed by the State, or dii-
fenters from the eftabhfliment, have not yet
learned, that other chrifiians are equally en-
titled to the favour of God with themfelves,
though they fliould apprehend differently of
the Divine Being and of the perfon and
character of Clirift, and of many other points
of his religion, vvhilll they endeavour to the
beft of their power, to underltand and prac-
tice what Chriji taught.
How defirable to find a curd for this dif-
grace of the chriftian name, the narrownefs,
contempt, and hatred and jealoulies of chril-
tians of different fentimejits towards one ano-
ther! The allowance of no powei*, emolu-
ment, credit, or advantage whatfbever, to
perfons for being of one opinion in religion
more than another, would do much towards
healing thefe felfifh bafe paflions ; when it
would be of no worldly benefit to them, to
be of one church, or of one religious opinion,
more than another.
But it would go farther to remove the
jrppt of the evil, if we could but prevail with
and
106 CdNV£RSATIONS ON" THi:
and induce men to fee and confider, that
there is no foundation in fcripture, or reafon,
though it is ignorantly taken for granted,
that chrijtians only can he faved ; that thetj
alone mill obtain the favour of God and
eternal life. For this doclrine, wherever
embraced, leads chriitians to extravagant and
over-high opinions of themfelves, and un-
charitable conclufions concerning others. It
tends to make them put a(n undue import-
ance upon the " mere belief of chriftianity ;
to conceit that they are the favourites of
heaven folely for embracing it ; and that it
is meritorious to bring men over to their re-
ligious opinions, though they become not
more virtuous by it. . And what is worft of all ;
this appropriating of fah ation to themielves,
to their own church or Ibcl or party, makes
them of courfe uncharitable towards all thofe
who do not hold with them in opinion, or
who oppofe their fentiments ; and in the end
leads them to perfecute others and to do
them all manner of harm, as enemies and
oppofe rs of God and his truth. • This is what
we fee every day exemplified.
The
DIVINE GOVERNMENT, 1G7
The real flate of the matter is this. It is
an ineltimable privilege and happinefs to be
born within the found of the gofpel ; where
we have the means and opportunities of in-
forming ourfeh es of it's truth, and of enjoy-»
ing and profiting by thofe powerful motives
and afliiiances which it affords.
But thofe who are not fo happy as to enjoy
thefe advantages ; who live where the gofpel
is not known ; or where it is lb perverted
and corrupted, that inftead of^ inviting men,
it alienates their minds from it, their igno-
rance, or averfion even to chriftianity under
fuch circumftances, will not be imputed to
them; and they will only have to give ac-
count of the right ufe of the light, and
talents and advantages they fliall have re*
ceived. And in this conclufion I am per-
fuaded you will all agree with me ; that in
teaching Chrift's religion, we ihould never
teach young perfons in particular, nor indeed
teach any perfons, that chriftians only can be
faved ; much lefs, chriftians only of this or
that particular church or fe6l; but that all
perfons will be faved, who are made pious
and good by their religioa; and none elfe.
You
108 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
You have gratified us all, when Volujlan
had ended, immediately replied Phothius;
in giving fuch an exa6l though frightful pic-
ture of that religion, which the Almighty
feems to have permitted for the trial and
punilhment of corrupt chriftians ; and in
pointing out the unhappy refemblance which
chriftianity bears to fome of its worft features.
It remains now however to go on with our
fubjec!^, and to remark, that on the taking
of Conftantinople in the year 1453, and
putting an end to the empire of tho Eaft, by
this deftru6live power, of which we have
been largely fpeaking, a new and better pro-
fpe6l of things opened on thefe wellern parts,
through the difperfion of many learned
Greeks, and the revival of literature by their
means ; and a fpirit of free enquiry with it,
cheriihed and brought forward by the pro-
vidential difcovery of the art of printing
about that period.
Noble efforts were made by many excel-
lent perfon^ among chriilians, at the hazard,
and fometimes with the lols of life, to revive
and reftore the knowlcge and worfhip of the
one true God, and vindicate the unalienable
right
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. l09
right of all men to judge for themfelves of
the things of God, of the duty they owed
him, and the worfliip they were to pay him,
without any diftatorial authority or inter-
ference of the prieft or magiftrate. And by
the continuance of thefe efforts and the im-
mortal writings of many for thefe lafl 300
years, in different countries, much has been
done: the rights of confcience and of pri-
Mite judgment have been clearly demon-
ftrated and generally acknowleged; but never,
never fairly and really admitted and allowed
by any of the great civil and eccleliaftical
powers, who have been univerfally combined
aijainlt them.
The fubjecls of a mighty neighbouring
State, did indeed fome few years lince, on
principles at firft approved by the liberal and
good, fet up their juil claim to thofe natural
rights of which for ages they had been de-
prived : and happy w ould it have been for
them and for many, if they had adhered to
and not ftepped beyond their firft righteous
demands. In their deviation from them, and
the dreadful fcenes which have cnihed, they
have brought an undeferved iiain and dif-
grace
110 CONVEKSATJOXS ON THE
grace on the caufe of liberty, and of the
juft rights of man, in which they firft flood
.up and were engaged. And as is the way-^
ward difpoiition of mankind, and frequent
courfe of human affairs, they ha^'*3 been the
caufe of alarming many out ,of their calm
and equal judgment, .and of throwing them
into the unhappy extreme of a dread of all
jufl reform, and have thus become the means,
for a time, of extinguifhing light and truth.
Yet mofl juftly as thefe fad cxcefTes and
many of their atrocious confequences are to
he deplored, we can fee great good refulting
firom the evil ; in the aboliihing of no fmall
portion of baneful fuperftition, through the
whole vaft dominions of the French and their
dependencies; efpecially in the prohibition
of carj-ying about in proceffion, in the flreets
and on the highways, and requiring every
paflenger to bow down to and adore, the
wafer God, or breaden God, Deitmpanariumi
as honeft old Whitby fcrupled not in derilion
to call it, in James iid'« days; that mofl
grofs ddjafiment of the Divin«i being, which,
with other things of the fort and kin to it in
the popifh worfhip, was the legitimate parent
of
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. Ill
of that Atheifm, with which the french na-
tion hath been branded, and which fome of
its noble emigrants are laid to have imported
mto the Britifh dominions.
But the moft deiirable bleffing which di-
vine providence hath brought out of thefe
dreadful evils, has been the putting an utter
end to all temporal power whatfoever in reli-
gious men, leaving them no authority what-
ever over others to promote reUgion, but that
which alone belongs t© it, of argument and
, perlUafion,
From this fliort glance (for it can be called
nothing better) of man, and of his moral
itate and condition from the beginning, which
this prefent fitting' hath afforded us, fome
idea may be collected of the progrels and
jnoral attainments, for which he was princi-
,pally made. And though the httle effect of
•genuine virtuous principle, and the defective
knowlege of God, have (liewn themielves,
and ftill too much appear, in the wars ahnoil
continually waging between nation and na-
tion ; and in the hatred and animofities on
account of difference of religious fentiments;
yet
112 eoXVERSATIOlSrS ox THE
yet it would be unfair and unjuft, in the moft
Iceptical, not to admit that knowlege and
virtue have been upon the whole progreflive,
and that ve'ry many eminent examples of
both, have been formed, and are forming.
in every age and country.
F HOT IN us here paufmg a little to make
lome apology for his difcourfe running out to
fo unavoidable a length, exprefied his appre-
henfions that the account that had been given
of the moral ftate of the world from the be-
ginning might be thought to exhibit too
humiliating a picture of man placed at the
head of the creator's works here below, by
thofe who looked for perfe6tion all at once
in every thino; that comes from him. But
as we are convinced, that a Being of all
goodnefs has in fact appointed otherwife;
and as we certainly do not love our fellow-
creatures, or defire their improvement and
happinels more earneitly than he that made
them, and his wifdom can beft judge and
direct how to attain that happinels, we may
probably, on a more particular examination,
find
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 113
find the methods he has a6tually diofen fully
fuited to and likely to anfwer this end,
though we may not fo immediately fee it*
For it is ever to be attended toj that n$
far as we know or can judge, rational crea-
tures could not become permanently happjr
as their maker intends them to be, without
the exertion of their own voluntary powers,
by learning virtue and obedience to his will,
ever their trueft happinefs, in the midft of
temptations and difficulties to thwart and
oppofe, and even at tirnfes to millead them.
This may account for our coming out of his
hands at firft, weak and frail creatures, wholly
unformed ; the ^ood or evil of our charac-
ters not born with us, but acquired after-
wards, by a proper ufe or the contrary, of
the powers, faculties, capacities^ and means
of improvement bellowed upon usi And all
are brought into life in fituations and circum-
dances, in which, in different degrees, they
are taught what makes for their true happinefs.
We are alfo, all of us, under the divine
inoral government, whether we attend to it
or not. If we indulge ourfelves to excefs ia
I th^
114 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
the gratification of our appetites, difeafe and
fuffering are in general the confequence ; and
thefe tend to corre6l and reftrain us in future.
The felfifli and ambitious lofe all that blifs
and calm enjoyment which arife from virtue
and a fenfe of the divine favour, and are i'een
fometimes to fall the victims, even in this
life, to thofe excruciating tortures, which
fooner or later overtake all thofe who ha-\ e
accuftomed ihemfelves to make light of human
mifery^ and to flight and negle6t the various
ways and means in their power of doing good
to others.
And we are fo formed, that the more we
lay ourfelves out to relieve the bodily wants
and miferies of others, or to throw light into
their dark minds, and bring them to God
and goodnefs, the more defirous we are of
being fo employed, and delighted with it;
fo as to think the day loft in which we have
not had an opportunity of thus ferving and
being ufeful to our fellow-creatures.
It has alfo been noted as a mark of the
care and attention of heaven for the virtuous
improvement of mankind, that in all times,
the
DIVINE GOVERNMENt. Il5
the general fentiment has been in favour of
the higheft inftances of virtue and goodnefs,
and grofs impiety and immorahty, excite
horror, and have been ever ftigmatized with
infamy : thefe fentiments being univerfal, can
only have proceeded from the difpolitions
imbibed by all from the circumftances in
which they are brought into the world, and
which are all of divine appointment. Hence
from the moft antient times of which we have
any record^ it has been held a duty for men
to facrifice their lives for the good of others ;
to fave their country, for inftancC) from im-
minent danger, and particularly to deliver it
from ilavery, which is worfe than death, as
it takes away and extinguiihes all excitement
to whatever is excellent. Such examples
have ever been applauded ; and to have re-
garded life, when by hazarding it they could
have been of fuch eminent fervice to others
would have been held the utmoft difgrace.
It is to be deplored, that the pra6lice of
mankind has not kept pace with their better
principles ; and that they have not had the
fortitude to refift tlie various temptations to
evil, which by degrees have drawn many on
I 2 to
Il6 C05ViERSATI0N§ ON TlIE
to the comniiOion of crimes, by Avhich human
hfe has fometimes been rendered a fcene of
mifery and conftillon. Yet in the midft of
all, it mull give infinite fatisfaftion, that the
balance has been always greatly on the fide
of virtue and goodnefs. We are fliocked
with ii^deed, and know not how to reconcile,
the horrid fcenes which prefent themfelves
before our eyes, at particular junctures, efpe-
cially in times of war and civil commotions.
But we can as little form a true judgment of
the moral ftate of men from w hat p-afles at
fuch feafons, as we can decide of the health
and falubrioulhefs of a country in the time of
<a raging infectious fever. In the ordinary
courie of things, in quiet times, the lefs fre-
quent inftanccs of cruelty, fraud and opprcf-
fion, and other evils, (which will in fome de-
gree always be going on, and cannot entirely
be prevented) will be counterbalanced by* a
general friendlinefs and probity ,^ and mutual
kind endearments and fervices. , And in all
places, it mull: be confeiied, tliebulk of man-
kind are and have ever been employed in ufeful
labours tor tbeir families, and in doing good
offices to Others, their friends, neighbours
and acquaintance, and in giving or procuring
relief
DIVINE GOVEHNMENT. 117
I'elief and afiiftance where needed, and in a
thoufand beneficent actions.
As this however is very much a matter of
experience and obferVation, whether there be
a preponderance of moral good in the prefent
flate, or not; 1 lliall beg leave to produce a
teftimonj in favour of it, from an eminent
perfon of great learning and knowlege of the
world, who might be fuppofed to be biaffed
to the other fide of the argument by the pre-
judices of his profefilon, and fhall read it to
you as I find it publiflied by Dr. Lmv^ the
late Bifliop of Carlifle, with approbation.
Thus then fpeaks J>r. King, Archbifliop of
Dublin, fome time after the beginning of the
laft century, to an anonymous opponent,
who had faid " that the prevalence of wicked-
nefs, or moral evil, was a thing fo certain,
that he was confident, no one could have the
leaft doubt of it, and he durft fay, that the
Author himfelf believed it."
** The Author profefifes himfelf to be of a
quite different opinion," replies the Arch-
bifliop. " He firmly believes, and thinks he
very well comprehends, that there is much
I 3 more
118 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
jnore moral good in the world than evil. lie
is fenfible there may be more bad men than
good, becaufe there are none but do amifs
fometimes, and one ill acl is fufficient to de-
nominate a man bad. But yet there are ten
good afts done by thofe we call bad men for
one ill one. Even perfons of the very word
chara6ler may have gottei^ it by two or three
flagrant enormities, which yet bear no pro-
portion to the whole feries of their lives.
The author muft profefs, that among fuch as
he is acquainted with, he believes that there
are hundreds that would do him good for one
that would do him hurt ; and that he has
received a thoufand good offices for one ill
one. He could never believe the do(5lrine of
Hobbs, that all men are bears, wolves and
tygers to one another ; that they are born
enemies to all others, and all others to them ;
tha^hey are naturally falfe and perfidious ;
or that all the good they do, is out of fear,
pot virtue. Nay the very authors of that
calumny, if their own chara6lers were called
in queftion, would take all poffible pains to
remove the fufpicion from them ; and declare
that they were fpeaking of the vulgar, of the
bulk of i;nankind, and not of themfelves.
J\or
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 119
Nor in reality do they behave in this manner,
toward their friends and acquaintance ; if
they did, few would trull them. , Obferve
fome of thofe who exclaim againft all man-
kind for treachery, difhonefty, deceit and
cruelty; and you 11 find them dihgently cul-
tivating friendlLip, and difcharging the feveral
offices due to friends, their relations and their
country, with labour, pain, lofs of goods, and
hazard of life itfelf ; even where there is no
fear to drive them to it, nor inconvenience
attending the negleft of it. This youll fay
proceeds from cuftom and education. Be it
fo : However the world then has not fo far
degenerated from goodnefs, but the greater
part of mankind exercife benevolence, nor is
virtue So far exiled as not to be fupported
and approved, praifed and pradifed, by com-
mon confent, and public fuffrage, and vice is
Hill difgraceful. Indeed we can fcarce meet
with one, unlefs prefTed by neceffity, or pro^
yoked by injuries, who is fo barbarous and
hard hearted, as not to be moved with com-
paffion, and delighted with benevolence to
others ; who is not dehghted to Ihew good-will
and kindnefs to his friends, neighbours, chil-
dren, relations; and diligence in the dif-
j 4 charge
12(V C©I*VBll«AtIONS ON THE
charge of civil duties to all ; who docs not
profefs fome regard for virtue, and think
himfelf affronted ^vhen he is charged with
immoralit3\ If any one take notice of his
©wn or another's anions for a day together,
he will perhaps find one or two blameahle,
the reft all innocent and inoffenfive. Nay,
it iy doubtful whether a Ne?^o or Caligtihy a
Commodus or Caracalla, (though monfters of
mankind, and prone to every a6l of wicked-
nefs and fury) have done more ill than inno-
cent aftions through their whole lives *."
Thefe juft obfervations on the general cha**
rafter and conduft of men, fliew, that far
from being altogether wicked and worthlefs,
they are fuch as in their firft ftate might be
expefted, from their frail and imperfeft frame,
and the good and evil influences to which
they are fub^ft ; liable to fall by yielding to
the various temptations to which they are
expofed ; and on the other hand, by nobly
* Eir^y on tilie Origin of Evil, by William Kingt
Archbifhop of Dublin, tranflated from the Latin with
notes by Ednnoid, Bilhop of Carlifle (p. 388) The fifth
edition rev il"ed. London, by Faulder, 1781.
2 . refiftijig
DIVINE GOVERXMENT. 121
refiftlng them, capable of being carried for-
wards to that which is moft excellent.
And thus the wifdom and goodnefs of the
creator are vindicated ; that he has not made
mankind in vain ; that he was not difap-
pointed in this the noblefl work of his creation
here below ; and that in the dangerous trials
and difficulties to which it was necelTary to ex-
pofe his rational offspring, as they could not
in any other w^ay become virtuous and happy
as he intended them to be, while many fell
away for the prefent, many alfo cleaved to
truth and goodnefs, and became purified, and
confirmed therein ; and the world has been
from the firft and all along, a nurfery for vir^
tuous, noble and ufeful chara6i:ers.
The company after fome general conver-
fation, and appointing a day for the farther
difculiion of tbefe flibjefts, now feparated.
k
CON-
122 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
CONVERSATION IV,
WHEN the party was next afTeinbled,
MarceUiniis defired to exprefs his fatisfa6lion
in the progrefs made in the difquiiition before
them. It was moft pleafmg, he faid, to fee
it fo clearly made out, that mankind were far
from being fo miferable or wicked as they
were commonly prefumed to be, and that the
contrary was rather the truth and the fa6l.
But clouds and darknefs ftill hung over the
profpecl:, through which he ihould be glad
to fee Ibme light appear. The road through
life, which many of the human fpecies were
deftined to tread, was fo difmal and dreary,
along fuch dreadful paflfages of pain and
mifery, as to make one flmdder at the thought
of it; and the difpofitions and habits were ih
depraved, malignant, horridly felfifli, cruel
and vicious, which many were feen to carry
out of the world with them, that fome better
folution than had yet appeared was earneftly
to be willied for, how fuch a conftitution of
things
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 125
things could have its origin from, or be com-
patible with, a benevolent principle.
If thefe evils and diforders were to be at-
tributed, as fome philofophers have main-
tained, to the rugged untra<5table nature of
matter, or of m hatever it be, of which we are
compofed, and that it was through this or
fome other unavoidable impediment, and not
from want of good-will in our creator, but
of power to execute to the full his benevolent
purpofes, that we w^re made fubjeft to fuch
harili conditions of exiltence, which was faid
to have been, for fome time, the opinion of
the late enlightened friend of his country and
mankind, Mr. Day *, though he afterwards
relinquilhed it, and embraced julter fenti-.
ments of the divine power and goodnefs :
Or, if, as revelation has been thought to
inculcate, it was owing to fome powerful evil
Being, whofe interference in the affairs of
mankind was unavoidable, that we were ex-
pofed to fuch a variety of fufferings and
temptations, and oft-times mifled to ruin by
■ f Author of Sandfprdand Merton.
yielding
124 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
yieiding to them : in either of thele cafes, we
muft fubmit and make the belt of what we
cannot avoid or amend.
But all gloom would vanilli and day-hght
difclofe its beautitiil rays, if it could be fliewn,
with fuch evidence as might fatisfy the rational
mind, that the great whole of things is in
fuch fort from God ; that natural and moral
evil, pain and fuffi-ring, iin and wicked nefs,
are all of his appointment, and permitted for
good ; he could then chearfully acquiefce
and reft contented, whatever came to pais,
iecure that we were in the beft hands ; and
that however fad and difaftrous at times, and
in fome particular cafes, appearances were,
all was for the beft, and Mould in the refult
turn out favorable and happy. This was the
great difficulty ; the Gordian knot, which he
almoft defpaired of ever feeing untied."
Phoiuius, here, who had been obferved to
be more than ordinarily attentive and wrapt
in thought, whilft MarccUinus was fpeakipg,
fuddenly rofe up, and with greater earneft-
nefs and folemnity than he was accuftomed
to ; " Be afliircd, my friends, fays he, that
we
i>IVINE GOVERlfMENT. 125
we do not any of us deem fo highly of the
boundlefs mercy and goodnefs of the fove-
reign creator and parent of all things, as his
works, and dealings with us and with all his
creatures call for and demand, or we fliould
entertain more exalted thoughts of him, and
live under his government, with a more urt-
interrupted joy and confidence than we feem
to do, fo as not to admit any, the leaft doubt
or miftruft that his sfoodnefs will in the end
bear down every oppolition.
For what do we behold, every where and
in all things, but marks and tokens of wife
. contrivance and intentions of kindnefs for the
creatures he has made ; and alfo at the fame
time, plain indications, that if any comfort
or fatisfai5tion is denied or withdrawn from
them, that might minifier to their prefent
happinefs ; or pain and mifery infli6^€d in the
fevereft degree, it has been for good. Thefe
his kind intentions and beneficence to th-e
whole fentient inferior creation, throughout
the planet we inhabit, we have lately feen
exemplified by a large indu6iion of particular
mllances, which might be extended without
bounds, and which pofterity in their invefti-
gations
126 CONVERSAtlONS ON THE
gationswill takepleafure in enlarging through^
out all future ages^ and literally never be
able to exhauft*
Alid with regard to his rational creation,
formed in the image and likenefs of their
great creator and to be happy, may we pre-^
fume to fpeak it, with his own happinefs ^
always remembering, that fuch is the frame
and conftitution beflowed'upon us^ that our
true happinefs cannot be a thing infufed into
us, but mufl arife from our own voluntary
exertions and labour, in furmounting diffi-
culties in our way, and acquiring thofe tem-
pers and difpofitions, wherein it confifts, and
by which it is confirmed and mud be per-
petuated ; namely^ the difpofitions of a fu-
preme love to Him who gave us our being
and all our powders, and an invincible affec-
tion to all our fellow-creatures and to all to
whom our good offices can extend ; which
effects, the moral difcipline we are put under
however painful and fevere, from our own
paffions and the world without us, is exaftly
calculated to produce :
Thefe
DIVINE GOVERNMENT.. 127
Thefe fa^s being eftablifhed ; and taking
along with us, that this happinefs, for which -
we were made, the higheft of which we or
any created nature are capablie, is a happi-
nefs which alone is permanent and for ever
increaling :
It feems a folid foundation of reafoning,
on which we may fafely rely ; that as the
univerfe and all things in it are the work of
a being of infinite wifdom and power, and
of thie moft perfe6l goodnefs, and calculated
for the beft purpofes, the happinefs of tlie
things he has made ; and as there was nothing
to over-rule him in his operations, or to in-
duce or compel him to adopt any meafures
for accompliftiing his. kind deligns, but fuch
as he judged the moft proper and fuitable;
Therefore, as he has placed us in a world,
wherein, though happinefs greatly prepon-
derates, there is fuch a mixture of pain and
fuffering, of vice and mifery, as fills us often
with melancholy apprehenfions and difmay ;
we may be fully perfuaded, that fucii a dif-
cordant, revolting mixture would not have
been admitted into his fair creation, but be-
caufe
128 coxverSations ojt the
caufe he. faw it-neceflary for its perfection,
and the fulfilment of his benevolent pur*-
pofes ; or rather, becaufe thofe purpofes could
not be obtained without it : for moft afiuredly,
he would not have chofcn evil on its own
account, the mifery and defilement of his
creatures, but for the good that he faw would
be derived from and procured by it.
And what we thus argue from the cha-
ra6ler and perfections of the deity, manifefted
in his works ; that evil, natural and moralj
pain and fuffering, vice and mifery, were only
admitted by him, on account of the fuperior
good accruing from them, not otherwife to
be attained ; we alfo find to be true in fa6i
and by experience.
For if there had been no moral evil or
wickednefs, mankind would have been defli-
tute of thofe difpofitions and affeSlions, which
are their higheft perfe6iion, and the fource
of their pureft happinefs. Where would have
been patience and forgive nefs of injuries ;
where the godlike difpolition of returmng
good
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 12^
g6od for evil, if there had been no fraud, oi^
ci'uelties, or oppreffion exercifed ? " Had the!
good and virtuous of mankind been wholly
profperous in this world," fays an excellent
perfon ; " had goodnefs never iiiet with op-
polition, where had been the trials the vi6tory,
and the crown of virtue ?" It is by a refift-
ance to the alluring enticements to unlawful
gratification of the interior appetites and paf-
iions^ and refolutely turning away from fafci-
nating pleafure, that habits of temperance,
ch^ftity^ and a virtuous felf-denial are ac-
quired. If by ftifling that kind^ mutual
affe6tion, which is nature's diftate to all, we
had not become eager to grafp every advan-
tage to ourfelves, feeking only our own in-
dulgence by every means, ambitious^ envious,
Unjuft, trampling upon the rights and happi-
nels of other men, impatient of rebuke and
contradi6tioni revengeful^ ilnaWed by any
fear of God, and his juft awards; there
would have been no dangers to encounter
with; no hardfliipis or miferies^ no j>erfecu-
tions in the caafe of truth and virtue to en-
dure i no • conflicts between an unlVv erving
integrity and honeliy on the one hand, and
a compliance with the mean views of intereft,
h % and
130 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
and worldly greatnefs on the other ; arid we
ftiould have wanted thole noble exaniples of
undiflembled piety, of meeknefs, fortitude,
magnanimity, difinterefted zeal for and pur-
fuit of the public good, not of one nation,
but of all mankind, which have ftimulated
the good in all ages to the like virtuous ex-
ertions and attainments. So that as it has
been juPily faid of natural evil, pain, difeafes
and the like, in vindication of the divine
goodnefs, that there is no yfelefa evil : So
muft we fay of moral evil, fm and wicked-
nefs ; that in the hands of God, every evil of
every kind is made an inflrument of greater
good, and higher fehcity, than would other-
wife have been enjoyed.
Phofhiiis was going on, as if he had fome-
thing farther to produce, when Volujian ftart-
ing up in a kind of extacy, uttering the
words of ouf great poet,
y
Jnfi: are the ways of God,
And jufiifiable to men ;
ITnlels there be wlio think not God at all :
If any be» they walk obfcure * :
* Sampfoni Agoniiles.
You
8
tolVlNE GOVr^RtMENT. 131
You will pardon me, my friends, faid he,
this abrupt interference, and I hope Phoiintis
will excufe me thus rudely breaking in upon
him, to give vent to the happiriefs I feel thi^
day in hearing from him fo defirable a vin-
dication of providence, in refpeft of the cala-
mities and painful fufferings, the abounding
vice and mifery of this lower world ; that th6
whole has its origin in, and will in the end
be found to be a part of the divine goodnefs.
This is the clue fo earneftly wifhed and
fought for by us in the courfe of our argu*
ment and inquiry, to guide us through tht
mighty maze^ and quiet the mind under the
ferious perplexities that arife from the view
of thefe fad appendages of human life. In
all ages, in feeking to account for fuch- a
ftate of things, coniiilently with the divine
attributes, learned and thoughtful men, among
other devices, have moft commonly had re-
courfe to the fuppofition, that it was in con*
fequence of crirties committed in a former
period of exiftencCj that mankind were thruil
into thefe dreary abodes of pai^ and mifery,
to expiate their previous guilt, and that this
amply juftified the divine Bein^ in bringing
K-2 ' us
V3t CONVERSATIONS ON THE
US into fuch a world. But this was alwa}^
found to be a fairy-land of imagination
merely, without any fafts or reality to fup-
port it; no pallfenger of all the Ions or
daughters of men, ever having retained in
memory the fainteft trace of fuch a ftate ;
and the fond fuppofition ferved only to amufe
and foothe the inventors and their followers.
In deed and in truth, this, with which
Vhotiiius hath furnifhed us, is the only key
that efte6lually unlocks the intricate wards of
the divine government, and folves the diffi-
culties of man's lot and deiliny in this firft
ftage of his exiftence.
I hope he will excufe my repeating his
argument in a few words, that he may fee I
have not miftaken him.
" That a Being of infinite wifdom and
power, and the mofl perfeft goodnefs, de-^
(irous of the happinefs of his creatures, has
made, appoints and regulates all things \'
*' That according to certain laws, per-
ceived and acknowleo-ed by all who will be
:■ :'■■•• •' i- '• * ' • • 'at
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 133
at the pains to confider his works, he governs
the world of nature ; feeds and preferves in
Hfe and happinei's the whole' lenfitive inferior
creation of birds arid bealls, infe6ls and
fiihes, &c. for their dellined term of exift-
ence, longer or Ihorter ; and renews and con-
tinues the fpecies of each from age to age ;"
" That he alio takes care of and governs
his rational creation, according to their dif-
ferent natures, leading them to their chief
good, to piety and virtue ; all tlieir powers
and all their good a6tions proceeding from
him ; and all that is bad and evil and irre-
gular in them alike being from him, and un-
der his controul, and permitted only to a
certain degree and limit, fo as to promote
his defigns of univerfal virtue and happi^
liefs/'
For want of feeing the perfe6l benevolence
of the Deity in the light in which this juft
reprefentation places him, as connected with
a righteous moral government, begun here,
K 3 and
134 CaNVJpRSATIOXS ON THE
and going on to its completion in another
ftate^ fome great charafters have funk into
moil unhappy and baneful errors. The late
king of Pruffia, Frederick, the great, as he
is called, here ftumbled and fell, fo as never
to recover : And as I perfuade myfelf it will
not lead us out of the way of our prefent in-
quiries, I would crave your permiffion to
dwell a little on his ilory, from the materials
with which he himfelf has furnifhed us.
From the writings probably of Leibnitz,
and others, and the penetrating refearches of
an ardent mind, this prince was led very
early to embrace fentiments concerning the
neceflity of human actions, which in the end
be appears to have carried n^uch farther than
his teachers would have approved. On his
firft acquaintance and correfpondence with
M, de Voltaire, begun in 1737» when only
prince royal, we find him thus expreffing
himfelf at the clofe of his defence of thefe
fentiments, in reply to the obje6liona of that
celebrated writer ;
*• I will-
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 135
" 1 will add one remark *,'* fays he, " to
what has gone before ; which is, that neither
freewill nor neceffity, exculpate the Deity
from being a party to the crimes of his crea-
tures. For whether he giv6s us a liberty to
do evil, or direftly prompts us to it, it is all
the fame ; it is ftill his doing. In going
back to the origin of evil, you muft afcribe
it to God, unlefs you efpoufe the fentiment
of the Manicheans concerning two principles,
one of them the author of evil ; which how-
ever is loaded with the greateft difficulties.'*
He could however never bring himfelf to
a lafling fatisfa6lory perfuafion, that the pi'e-
* Je n'ajouterai qu'une refleftion a celles que je viens
de faire ; c'eft que ni le franc arbitre, ni la fatalite abfo-
lue, ne difculpent pas la Divinite de fa participation au
crime : car que Dieu nous donne la liberie dt mal faire^
ou qu'il nous poufTe imiiiediatement au crime, cela revi-
ent a peu pres au meme; il n'y a que du plus ou da
moins. Remontez a I'origine du mal, vous ne pouvez-
que I'attribuer a Dieu, a moins que vous ne voulez em-
brafTer I'opinion des Manicheens touchant les deux prin-
cipcs ; ce qui nc laifTe pas d'etre herilTe de difficultes.
Le 17 Fcvrier, 1738.
Corrcfpondance da Frederic ii. Roy de Prufle.
Tome Premier, 17S9. p. J?25.
K 4 fent
136 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
fent constitution of things was for good ;
though he fometimes fpeaks jiioft fee}ingly of
it, and of its benevolent author. Nor could
he relieve or remove the anxious thoughts on
the fubje6t, which at tipies would unavoid-
ably obtrude themfelves, by looking forward
to a future ftate of being, where all evils and
irregularities would be healed ar^d corrected.
For he appears to have been alienated in
very early youth, to ^ inofl unreafonable de-
gree, againft the jewiih and chriftian revela-
tions, which might have given him light
here, and been fome ballaft to his wavering
ij^ind. In confequencp of thefe moft unfor-
tunate prejudices, he feenis to have been
without any, or at leaft to have got rid of all
fentiments of the moral government of God,
which may have contributed to make him
more eafy in the thought, with \yhich at laft
he became unalterably impreffed, that alj
was over with nian, when he clofed his eye^
upon thefe prefent fcenes ; concerning which
he * and his friend D'Alembert fpeak pt
times
* Du Roi, 9 Sppt. 1775. Savez vous bien (jue je fuis
vieux, {63) et que fi je ne vous revois dans ce monde-ci^
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 137
^mes with a gaiety and unconcern which is
not natural, and indeed feems affe6ted.
The fame early prejudices hindered him
from profiting by the wife IciTons, and from
^11 beneficial intercourfe with the nioft liberal
find eminent;ly learned M. de Beaufobre,
whom nevei'thelefs he moft highly efteemed
to the laft, whence it happened, that his con*
verfation chiefly lay with M, de Voltaire and
the french philofophers, who were darker,
and if poffible more fleeled and fet againft
all juft and proper inquiry into the fubje6l of
: religion than himfelf. So that this eminent
perfon of courfe plunged deeper and deeper
in fcepticifm and uncertainty, and was driven
at length to take reflige in the forlorn fyftem
pf the world being eternal ; ajid that there^
je vous donnerai ren<lez-vou8 a pure perte dans la vallec
de Joraphat.
De M. D'Alcmbert, 15 Sept. 1775,
Je Iw envle bien fincerement le bonheur qu'il a eu
d'approcher de V. M. et je defirer<[i de joiiir de ce bon-
Jieur an moins encore une fois, avant de rendre mop corps
f^]i\ eleinens qui ne tarderont pas a le redemander.
Ditto. Tome cinquienie,
fore.
138 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
fore, as there was no creation, it was in vain
to feek to account for any thing : grounding
and repofing himfelf on that aphorifm of*
feveral of the antient phiiofophers, e.r nihilo
nihil Jit, nothing can come from nothing :
which muft be acknowleged to be true, when
fpoken of beings of hmited powers, but is
not apphcable to God, whofe power is in-
finite. For although to produce things out
of nothing argues a power wholly incon-
ceivable by lis, there is no contradiction in it.
D'Alemberf^^ letter to the king from
Paris, Nov. 30, 1770, on this very fubjeft,
is
* Enfin, en admettant cette intelligence, qui a pre-
fide a la formation de I'univers, et qui prefide a fan en-
tretien, on fera oblige de convenir au moins qu'elle n'eft
ni infiniment fage, ni infiniment puiflante, puifqu' il
*'en iaut bien, pour le malheur de la pauvre humanite^
que ce trifte ihonde foit le meilleur de mondes poffibles.
Nous fommes done reduits, avec la meilleure volonte du
monde, a ne reconnaitre et a n'admettre tout au plus dans
Funivers qu'un Dieu materiel, borne, et dependant ; je
ne fais pas fi c'eft la fon compte, mais ce n'eft furement
pas celui de partifans zeles de I'exiftence de Dieu ; ils
nous aimeraient autant athees que fpinofiftes, comme nous
Ic forames. Pour les adoucir, fefons-nous fceptiques, et
repetons
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 139
is full of much ill placed wit and indecent
raillery, to Ipeak in the fofteft terms, againft
thole who believed in the exiflence of a
creator and moral governor of the world,
and lliews how miferable he and his royal
friend and patron were made by the princi-
ples they had embraced ; 'and hkewife what
wretched reafoners and pitiable beings men
of the brighteft and moft cultivated talents
and abilities degenerate into, when they feek
to extinguilh the light that is in them, and
turn away from God.
It would have been moil happy for thexa
both, if they had been polTeffed of and in«
Huenced by the like amiable views of the
conftitution of nature, and of its divine al-
mighty author, with Monf. Turgot, Minifter
,of ftate for fome time to the unfortunate
Louis XVI, their contemporary, and not un-
known to them ; in learning and abilities not
inferior to either, in moral qualities far above
them; which led him (though with preju-
repetons avec Montagne, ^ue fais jeP A Paris ce
^6 Noverabre 1770.
Ditto, Tome quatrieme, p. 176.
dices
140 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
dices againft revelation, in France, at that
period fcarce avoidable by a rational mind)
to look forward to a future ftate of exiitence,
in which all prefent evils, and diforders and
obliquities would be remedied and re6Ufied*.
* For the high charafter of this virtuous minifter of
the unfortunate Louis xvi, Monf. Turgot, fee Monf.
Senac de Meilham {a} : for which I am indebted, among
many other favors for near thirty years, to one, whofe
liberal, benevolent and generous labors are conftantly
exerted in various ways to benefit mankind, and promdte
(he caufe of true religion and virtue (^j.
To his fuggeflions jointly with thofe of another very
able aijd moft valuable chriftian charafter (c), (to whofe
friendfhip, virtues, and memory, my heart pays the moft
afieftionate and grateful tribute) was owing the variation
made in the laft edition of the Reformed Liturgy in 1793
after the model of the excellent Dr. Samuel Clarke, by
changing the threefold addrefs retained in the Litany, into
one folemn and appropriate one : They juflly obferving,
that a threefold addrefs would keep up the old impreffion
of a threefold nature in the Deity, fo contrary to the
Scriptures.
{«) Du Governement, des Mceurs, ct des conditions en
France, avant la Revolution..
{6) Francis Maferes, Efq. Curfitor Baron of his Majefty'*
Court of Exchequer, and Author of the Moderate Reformer.
(f) John Lee, Efq. Solicitor General under Lord Rocking-
ham's Adminiftration,
But
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 141
But I have done, fays Volujian^ and have
now to hope Photinus will excufe my rude-
nefs and impetuofity Not merely
excufe, replies Photinus, but thank you mofl
heartily for it, and for the good fruits it has
produced. Take care, however, you do not
bring yourfelf into a dilemma you cannot
ealily get out of, by your too lavilh com-
mendations of us, and citation from our great
poet in our favour ; when others may retort
upon you, that he moft alTuredly muft have
had us in his eye, as a fet of well meaning,
melancholy mortals attempting to account
for what is beyond their reach ; where he
defcribes fome of his inhabitants of Pande-
monium, who
reafon'd high
Of providence, foreknowlege, will and fate,
Fixt fate, freewill, foreknowlege abfolute,
Ami found n$ end, in wandering mazes loji.
But the inftances of the two memorable
chara6ters you have produced are much to
par purpofe, in fo dire6lly pointing out the
fatal darknefs and wretchednefs that muft
ever enfue, when in an age fo enlightened as
that
14^ CONrERSATlONS ON tKt:
that we live in, any can be fo blinded as not
to fee a God, and a wife providential care
exercifed over all creatures for their good,
efpecially all the rational part gf them. You
have fully fliewn however that it was by their
acquired moral ignorance that they were fo
fatally mifled, and not by their opinion of
the neceffitv of human actions, on which
fome would lay blame.
It is however matter of the higheft exul-
tation and jo}^ in which we may juftly tri-
umph, to be fully alTured, that mere arbi-
trary will and fovereignt}^, from which we
could never know what we were to expect,
hath no fway in the divine government under
which we are placed ; and that original love
andgoodnefs, are the beginning and end, the
fpring and mcafure of all the actions of the
Deity, and of all his dealings with us. Hence
with the moft perfeft confidence, we con-
clude, that every evil of every kind is or-
dained for prefent or ultimate good : Not
only ficknefs, and pain, and difeafe in all il:?
fhapes, defolating florms, ea-rtliquakes, fa-
mine, peitilence, wars, and the ordinary and
the
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 143
the lefs common calamities of life ; but the
horrid cruelties, injultice, oppreffion, &c. with
which individuals and fometimes whole coun-
tries have had to (truggle for a longer or
Ihorter fpace : All thefe natural and moral
evils are from God and under his fovereign
controul, fo as to be permitted to fpread no
farther, and continue no longer than his
purpofes of good are ferved by them ; dic-
tating, in his fupreme ail-ruling providence,
to wicked tyrants and opprefibrs of mankind,
and to every inflrument of evil, Hitherto
JJialt thou go, and no further ; here Jliall thy
'proud waves hejlayed. Job xxxviii.
In the folution we have offered, of the
origin of the evil there is m the world, it is
conceded, tliat the Almighty knowingly and
defignedly appointed it, for the fuperior good
that he faw would be derived from it. We
his frail and ignorant creatures however are
on no account to tranfgrefs the plain rule of
moral duty, t^ do evil that good may come :
becaufe our underftandings are weak and
limited ;
144 c<:)NVERSAtiONs on the
limited ; and we cannot be liire that the sroo'd
we intend will happen. But our Maker, m
we have feen at large, out of that limited
quantity of evil, which he judges fitting to
appoint and permit, continually produces
virtue and every good.
This is pleafmgly exhibited to us in the
well known beautiful (lory of the Hermit,
who being perplexed to account for the ways
of providence, quitted his cell for a time, in
queft of fatisfa6tion to his anxious mind*
The narrative is given us in " Divine Dia-
logues concerning the attributes and provi-
dence of God, London printed l66'8 ;" a
work of the pious Dr. Htnry More of Cam-
bridge : but is better known in the poetical
drefs of Dr, Varnell.
We fhall avoid fonie of the perplexity and
difficulties, in which good minds are wont to
be involved, from the idea of the evil a6tions
of men being of divine appointment, as^
though God himfelf were the immediate
author of lin and wickednels ; if we confider,
that the Almighty Beins, if we may lb Ipeak,
a6teth
DIVINE GOVEENMi:JfT* 145
a^leth not immediately himfelf in directing
the a6lions of men, and influencing them to
good or evil : but it is by the intervention of
inftruments employed by him, of fecotid
caufes, as we term it, in the natural courfe
of things, and according to laws eftablilhed
by himfelf, that He the firft great caufe in-
fluences and governs all things, and bringeth
them to pafs. In other words, it is by the
different motives that arife in our minds, from
our fituation and circumflances, which are all
of divine appointment, that we are led to
evil and to good. Thus are we to underftand
w^hat is faid, A6ls xvi. 14. The Lord operied
the heart of Lydia to attend to the things
fpoken of Paul; i. e. her pious and virtuous
mind, thofe good difpofitions which fhe had
imbibed from her fituation and circumflances,
all of them originally from God ; inclined
her to liften to Paul.
Thus alfo, ThehoUTt hardened the heart
of Pharaoh ; Exod. xi. 10. i. e. being a man
void of all jufl fenfe and knowlege of God,
and totally indifpofed to him, he became
only the more alienated from obeying his
commands by thofe miracles, which had a
L natural
14() CONVERSATIONS ON THE
natural tendency, and were wrought to pro-
duce obedience.
It is matter of conftant obfervation, and
verified in the facred and in all hiftorv, that
Divine providence oftentimes makes ufe of
the evil paflions and wickednefs of men, to
promote its good deiigns. That moft horrid
a6l of deftroying the life of the holy and in-
nocent Jeius was brought about by the
treachery of one of his own difciples, and
the mean temporizing fpirit and condu6l of
Pontius Pilate, the roman governor of Judea.
Aftsiv. 25— 28.
And the book of Genefis fumifhes a re-*
markable example of the Almighty turning
the wickednels of men to ferve his own bene-
volent purpofes, in the pleafing narrative of
Jojeph and his brethren.
It was not yt that ftnt me into Egypt :
for God did fend me before you to preferve
life. Gen. xlv. 5. faid Jofeph to his brethren,
to foothe them under their fears of being
made to fuller for then- cruel and unnatural
behaviour. God was concerned in this acl
of
1
iJlViNE GOVERNMENT. 147
of theirs, by having brought them into Hfe
in fuch a fituation, wherein he forefaw they
would meanly give way to a vile envy againft
their younger brother on account of his being
of a more fprightiy and amiable diipoiltion
than themfelves, and more beloved by their
father, which flirred up their bad palfions to
feek his deftru6lion, and fell him into Egypt.
On this hiftory^ an old writef thus Re-
marks ; " Such an' ordering and overruling
hand hath G od in all the evil actions of men,
VV hen Jofeph's brethren fell him into Egypt^
God is laid to fend him/ Human malice
and divine providence may be together in
the fame a6l. Wherein men have an evil
hand, God hath a good one; "aho brings
light out of darkneis and turns evil in the
end to good." Burthogge on Divine Good-
nefs, p. 44.
It is how^ever to be femembered,^ that
whatever we define concernins: the divine
agency and government over mankind and
their affairs, and the manner of it, of which
we mud ever conceive and fpeak, like chil-
dren, moft imperfe6fly ; and although we
h 2 , Cannot
148 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
cannot but be perfuaded that all the a6tioDS'
of men are under the antecedent direftion
and appointment of God, for how could be
othervvife govern the world? Yet mankind
are not a mere piece of clock-work, a fet of
unconfcious machines. They acquire volun-
tary powers, by which they do what they
pleafe; chufe for themfelves and follow their
choice ; take blame to and condemn them-
felves for whatever they do that is impious,
or wicked, or hurtful to others : and more
than this, think themfelves not unrighteoufly
or inequitably dealt with in being made to
fuffer for their evil difpofitions and a6iions in
order to corre6t and amend them, under the
divine government in the prefent world ; nor,
if they continue unreformed and unchanged,
expe6l to efcape punifliment in a future ftate.
So that if God be charged in any way with
being the author of men's fins, it is not in
any fuch fenfe as to acquit the perpetrators,
or fo as to excufe them even in their own
eftimate from being refponfible at the tribunal
of that Being, whofe laws, calculated, for
their own and the general good of all, they
have violated.
In
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 149
In a word ; we are confcious that we are
fiot mere puppets a6led upon; but agents,
refponiible for what we do. We are alfo
folly perfuaded, that all we do is beforehand
known to God, and appointed by him. How
this divine foreknowlege and appointment
are to be reconciled with the freedom and
refponfibility of our a6lions, is beyond our
comprehenlion. Nor need we to be at all
concerned about it. And in this con^lufion,
Mr. Locke, may quiet our minds, and alfo
read us an ufeful lelfon of modefty and can-,
dour in our judgments concerning the word
and the works of God; who, in his fecond
anfwer to the Bilhop of Worcejier, that had
accufed him of advancing fomething con-
cerning the nature of the foul, which implied
that men were not free agents, thus replies
to the charge ;
*' It is not for me to judge how far your
Lordfliip's fpeculations reach ; but finding in
myfelf nothing to be truer than what the
wife Solomon tells me, Ecclef. xi. 5. as thou
knoweji not what is the way ofthefpirit, nor
how the bones do grow in the womb of her
that is with child; even fa thou knoweJl not
L 3 the
150 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
the works of God who tnaketh all things : I
gratefully receive and rejoice in the light of
revelation, whicli fets me at reft in many
things, the manner of which my poor reafon
.can by no means make out to me : omnipo-
tence, I know, can do any thing that con-
tains ii> it no contradiction ; fo that I readily
believe whatever God has declared, though
ny reafon find difliculties in it, which it can-
not m^fter. As in the prefent cafe, God
having revealed that there Ihall be ^ d^y of
judgment, I think that foundation enough
to conclude men are free enough to be an-,
fwerable for their aftions, and to receive
according to what they have done ; though
how man is a free agent, furpafs my explica-
tion or comprehenfion."
Si/nefiiis fcemed now inclined to take part
in the debate, but the reft of the company
propofmg that the farther difcuffion of the
fubject iliould be deferred to another opporr
tunity, he acquiefced in their willies. .
tON,
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. loi
CONVERSATION V.
SYNESIUS *, who was an old common
friend, and of all their parties, though in many
points he differed from them ; and formerly
in their Converfations on chriftian idolatry,
had endeavoured on that account, to divert
Vohijian from quitting the worfliip of the
eftablilhed church, put himfelf forward at the
next meeting, and pleaiantly cried out, that
he was quite tired of being fuch a cypher
among them, but thought it became him firft
to make his confe.ffion, that they might admit
him as a true penitent.
I muft plainly tell 3^ou-then, fays he, I had
been much hurt at the freedoms you ufed in
calling in queftion what was eftablifhed by
authority in the church of England, as I
thought it was unfettling people, and taking
away the little foundation they had for their
* See, for a character of this perfon, Converfations
on Chriftian Idolatry, page 64.
L 4 demeanour
152 ♦ CONVERSATIONS ON THE
demeanour as quiet and good fubjecls, fetting
them loofe from all reftraints, and leaving
them in pofTeilion of nothing. For I had
been wont to confide r the chriftian rehgiorj
principally as it concerned the flate, and was
ufeful to keep the people in order and fub-
je6lion; and indeed, all the while I contended
fo earnellly for it, entertained not a few
doubts about its do6lrines, and even its fpun-^
dations.
But I have been for fome time convinced,
that ferious doubts and djfputes about reli-.
gion do by no means lead men away from
moral pra6lice, but the contrary ; as they
fober the mind, bring us acquainted with
ourfelves and our own chara6lers, and the
principles well founded or otherwife, or\
which we aft, and thereby tend to fix us ii>
^ courfe of right conduft. ISTor can any
damage or difturbance ever refult to the
State, from difputes, or diflerences of opinion
in religion, if the State w ill only do its duty,
and a6t: as becomes it, by holding an equ^l
hand over all its fubje6ts, and reftrain thenr\
from injuring or hurting one another for theif
yeligious differences,
But
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 153
But that I have not been of late an indif-
ferent hearer, though I- have taken no part
in your debates, you will believe, when I
tell you, that I have found my mind as fully
relieved by them from many doubts on im-
portant fubjefts with which I had been per-
plexed, as if I had laid them before you for
the purpofe,
1. I was wont to he much difturbed, that
we were creatures fo framed, that there was
little pure happinefs to be found, and fo
much pain and mifery of one kind or other
mixed in our cup, as if we had been the
work of fome envious Being, who had
grudged us our enjoyments. But I am now
perfuaded, that it was the happinefs of the
unthinking brute animals that I coveted, and
not of a rational being ; which is not to be
attained without labour and difficulty.
2. The firft chapters of our facred books
feemed to be a moll ftrange exhibition of
the God and creator of all things, and of the
firft origin of our fpecies, fo inveloped in
figure and allegory, that with difficulty can
any tolerable fenfe be made of it; for 1
expe6led,
154 COXV£RSATIONS ON THE
expefted, that the proofs of his exiftence^
and of his love and regard fot his creatures,
if he had really been poflelled of thefe quali-
ties, would have been pointed out to us in a
brief energetick manner.
But I am now perfuaded, that Divine
AVifdom hath judged better for us in the
methods which Mqfes has been dire6led to
purfue. For that there is one God, and that
he is good, his works of nature teach ; and
have been fo underftood by all who have
confidered them, a very few perfons excepted^
of pitiable mental or bodily infn-mities, or
both. But fuch an authoritative hiftorical
account, as is furnilhed us in the Bible, of a
God, as I may fay, really exuling and act»
ing, as our creator and moral governor,
makes ftronger imprefiions, gives fuller coii"
vi6tion, and is better calculated to operate
upon the minds of human creatures, and
carry down to all ages the momentous truth,
than fpeculative arguments ; which would be
liable to perpetual difpute and quibble ; as
we find to have been the fa6J-, in antient
times, and in our own.
3. I
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 155
3. I had been much hurt in perufuig, and
iirongly tempted to flight the whole account
of the Deity given in the Bible, for his being
reprefented from the firfl and throughout,
not as a benevolent creator, and patron and
encoumger of virtue and goodnefs, but an
arbitrary, capricious, malevolent Being * ;
bringing into exiltence a race of creatures,
and loon repenting of what he had done, and
dellroying them ; and upon renewing their
race afterwards, conductmg himfelf towards
them in the lame unfteady partial manner,
felefting as the obje6ls of his fpecial favour,
chara6^ers by no means worthy of it»
But you have fatisfied me, that I con-
demned what I did not underftand : that it
was not the plan and deiign of th© Creator
to bring creatures any how to happinefs, but
by degrees, and by fuitable difcipline to form
them to piety and goodnels, the true telicitj
of rational beings. This is plainly indicated
* Upon this fubjeft I would beg leave to recommend
it ferious perufal oi the admirable and eloquent difcourfes
on the Providence and Government of God, by a late
excellent man and highly efleemed friend, the Rev. N.
Cappe, of York,
in
156 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
in the account of the firft creation of dur
fpecies, and is the key, with which we may
open and explain many things belonging to
our prefent ftate,
4. I had flumbled, with many others, at
the divine command todeftroy theCanaanitiili
nations, being perfuaded that it could not
come from a benevolent creator, and that it
was all the work and contrivance of priefts
and politicians, who had taken pofleflion of
the minds of the multitude, and prefumed to
reprefent as God's commands what was the
dictate of their own implacable temper and
ambition. But you have contributed to put
me on farther inquiry and to convince me,
that it was not unbefitting the moral governor
and the lover of his creatures, to interpofe in
the way Mqfes has defcribed, to prevent the
horrid practices that prevailed throughout
thofe nations, at leaft to give a check, if not
mtirely to eradicate them ; and alfo to make
his favoured nation the inftruments of his
judgments; favoured, not for their own fakes,
for they, as he told them, were not better
than others, but for the fake of their more
deferving progenitors. And throughout the
facred
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 157
facred hiflory, from the beginning, I fee no
omnipotent tt/rant, no Moloch, furious ki?ig,
as he has been defcribeclj dehghting himfelf
with the miferies and deitruction of his crea-
tures ; but a kind creator and moral governor,
concerned for their beft interefts, and to bring
them to true happinefs*
5. I have alfo pecuhar pleafure in noting
throughout the books of Mofes and the other
facred writers of the Old Teftament, their
vaft care and attention to teach and to hold
forth at all times, that there is o?ie God onltj^
and no other hejides him ; not a God com-
pqfed of many perfons, which is a thing of
anti^chrijiian invention, but a God in the
fmgle perfon of Jehovah, God of Ifrael,
God of the univerfe.
I am the more induced to name this, not
only becaufe it is a truth that lies at the
foundation, and is of the greateft concern-
ment ; but alio through a deiire to mention
to you a late publication that may not have
fallen in your way, of a refpe^fcable Swifs
gentleman among us ; Mr. De Luc, who
eiyoys the office of Reader to the Queen,
5 and
158 COXrERSA TIONS ox THE
and has been made by the King Profeflbr of
philofopby and geology in the univeriity of
Gottingen, and who dedicates his tract,
which is in the french language, to the king
of Pruffia. As I had been led to efteem the
author, I was concerned and much difap-
pointed, that he lliould at this day, upon
fuch flight and imaginary grounds, fet him-
felf to deprive us of the one true God and
father of the univerfe, and introduce in lieu
of him, a God confilting of three perfons,
the Father, the IFord, and the Spirit, in the
Ufiitij of his effence ; alluding in fupport of
this to the text in 1 John v. 7j of the three
heavenly witnefies ; a text now almoft unani-
moufly given up as I'purious, and not written
by the apoftle. Of which fentiment, the
prefent bifliop of Lincoln, to the credit of
his judgment and integrity, hath lately de-
clared himfelf in expreffive terms. " I
purpofely omit the contefted pallage in the
firft epiftle of St. John : There are three
that bear record in heaven, the father, the
fon and the holy ghoft : and thefe three are
one. In any cafe it would be improper to
produce a doubtful text in fupport of fo im-
portant a doct4'ine as that of the trinity ; but
I mull
DIVIK^E GOVERNMENT. 159
I muft own, that after an attentive conlide-
ration of the controverfy relative to that paf-
fage, I am convinced that it is I'purious *.'*
Mr. De Luc ^farther grounds this do6lrine
of his on the pkiral termination of one of
the hebrew i^ames of God ; where his words
are^ referring his reader to. the language of
Mofes in the beginning of Genelis -j- ; " The
denomination of the Divinitv, fays he, is
plural ; that is Elohim, the Father, the TVoj-df
and the Spirit in the unity of his ejfcnce J.''
* Elements of Chriftian Theology, vol. ii. p. 90.
t " MoisE commence la Genese par la fixation de
ces idees, qui font la bafe du Chriftianifme.
Des ce debut, dis-je, la denomination de la Divinite eft ua
plurier; c'eft ElohiM; le Pere, h Parole et V EJprit
dans r unite de fon Essence."
Lettres fur I'educatlon religieufe de I'enfance, pre-
cedees et fuivies de details hiftoriques — dediees au
Roi, par J. A. De Luc, Letleur de fa majefte La
Reine de la Grande Bretagne, ProfefTcur de phi-
lofophie et geologic a Gottaigue. A Berlin. 1800.
pag. 138.
:|: See on this fubjefl, Mr. Frend's excellent Animad-
yerfions on the Elements o*^ Chriftian Theology, Letter
XI L in which is a clear confutauon of the vain fuppo-
fition of a plurajity of perfons in God from the uff of a
plural termination in one of his names. Ridgway. 1800.
After
l60 CONVj&RSAtlONS ON TII£
After this, Mr. De Luc proceeds to con-*
firm thefe pofitions, by referring (I give his
Avords) to Mr. Thomas Maurice, one of the
keepers of the Britifli Mufeum ; who, in his
Indian Antiquities, lately publiflied, profeiTei
to find the doftrine of a Triniti/, or -j- plii-
rality in the unity of God, among thofe na-
tions of antiquity, wlio, he thinks, muft have
received it from anceftors, that were in pof-
feffion of it, anterior to the time of Mofes ;
and thus furnilh a frefh authority, as is fnp-
pofed, for the doftrine of a Triniti/ in unity
in God, independent of the facred writings.
But both thefe arguments of thefe two
learned gentlemen ; the one, from the plural
termination of Erlohim, one of the hebrew
names of G od ; the other from the high an-
tiquity of the do6lrine of a Trinity in Unity
and Plurality in G od ; without going into
any other confutation of them, are fet afide
by the fmiple and molt obvious confideration
furniihed by Mofes and the Prophets, and
the whole hebrew fcriptures ; namely, that
whenever God is introduced in the facred
+ Lc meme, p. 159.
nritinffSy
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. l6l
tifl'i tings, as f peaking of Jiimfelf, or fpoken of
hy others, or is himfelf addrejfed, the pcrfonal
pronouns, I, thou, he, Are invariably ufed;
which demonftrates to every underftanding,
that it is one fingle perfon, and not more than
one, who is the God of Mofes and the pro-
phets and of tlie people of Ifrael, and confe-
quently the God and Father of our Lord
Jel'us Chrift, and of all mankind.
This plain argument, which has been a
thoufand times produced, it is to be hoped
will at laft have fome little attention paid to it,
being nothing lefs, to thofe who refpe6t the
Scriptures, than the authority of God him-
felf deciding the matter. For my part, I.
fee more reafon every day of my life, to be
thankful for thofe divine records, which have
been preferved to us by Mofes and the people
of the Jews ; as I fear, without them, what
with the refinements of philofophy, on the one
hand, and the idolatrous fuperftition of chrif-
tians on the other, the one true God would
have been overlooked and unknown. For
thele reafons, honouring that moft antient
nation of the Jews with that hi^h honour
which is due to it, and grieved when I fee
M them
162 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
them untleiervedly fcouted and defpiled and
ill treated bjChriflians, I am almoft tempted,
whenever I meet a Jew, to moA e my hat to
iiim, as one to whom I am under infhiite ob-
ligations, as a martyr and confeflbr to the
one ti'ue God.
6. It had given me much difturbance, that
chriftianity,' which was ufliered into the world,
as we read, with fuch a profufion and expence
of miracles, and is moil truly a fcheme to
condu6l his creatures to virtue and true hap-
pinefs, worthy of the benevolent parent of
mankind, (liould not have better made its
way, and ihould have done fo little to reform
the world, than it has hitherto been found to
have done : I have been formerly often ready
to rejeft it on this account.
But you have helped much to quiet my
mind, and have cured my fcepticifm in this
Tefpre^^, "by pointing out in what manner thefe
powerful means of true piety and virtue have
been blunted and impeded, and the falutary
effe6ts of this excellent do.6trine counteracted
by the corruptions that have been grafted
upon and blended with it; andchiefiy by its
4 being
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. l63
being poifoned and perverted alrnoft' in its
cradle as foon as the powers of the world
began to give it their countenance, as an in-
flrument of ambition and worldly deligns
and aggrandifement ; a fervice which it dif-
dains ; by which it is fure to be polluted, and
to have its true end and defign of making
men of all ranks and degrees virtuous and
good, defeated ; but a fervice, in which, un-
fortunately, it is forced, more or lefs, to
drudge, to this very hour.
Your account and illuflration of the hiftory
of mankind, as delivered by Alofes, and of
the divine government exercifed over them
froin the beginning, and alfo of the ufeful
moral purpofes anfwered by the deluge, has
at laft removed all my chfiiculties. And I am
now perlunded that for thei'e events which
had appeared to me out of nature and all
credibility, there was a juft foundation in
fa6t, and the concurring freftimony of anti-
quity to their truth, to which no unprejudiced
perfon could refufe alient : and for this let
me lay, I was beholden to M?\ Hume him-
felf; which (hews how wife and prudent, as
well as juft and right in itfelf, it is to allow
M 2 the
l64 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
the utmoft latitude of difcurfion, and liberty
of publifliing their fentiments to ingenious
men on all fubje6is, efpecially thofe of reli-
gion, however contrary they may be to vih^t
is publicly received and believed.
For, in the reply of an excellent perfon
to that gentleman's " Ellay on Miracles,''
(which unqueftionably is calculated and was
intended to overthrow all belief of the divine
revelation contained in the Bible, and of the
chriljian religion in particular, and has cer-
tainly influenced many unwary readers to
turn away entirely from it,) there are given
with much good temper and libeni4ity, a folid
confutation of his arguments acrainft miracles,
and a defence of the people of the jews, and
of their facred hiftory, in oppofition to the
fubtle objections and attacks of this flirewd
and bold adverfary, with much other im-
portant remark connected with it : all which
the chriftian world would have been deprived
of, to their great lois, had not Mr. Hume
drawn it forth and given occafion to this
Avork.
I would
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. l65
I would here refer you to " An Eilfay in
anfwer to Mr. Hwnes EiFa j on Miracles/' by
William Adams, M.iV. Minifter of St. Chad's,
Salop. The fecond edition, with additions.
1749.
Towards the clofe of the work, Mr. (fince
the very eminent Dr.) Adams remarks:
" The remainder of this Ellay is little more
than a rude infult on the Scriptures and
the Chx'ijiian religion. For fear his (Mr.
Humes) readers fhould miilake his meaning,
and not apply his argument where he in-
tended, the author proceeds, with a fmiling
grimace, to tell us, ' that our moji holy re-
ligion is founded on faith, not on reafon ;
and it is a fare method of expoftng it to
put it to fuch a trial as it is by no means
jit ted to endure! This he pretends to make
evident by examining the miracles related in
the Pentateuch.'' ' Pie re' fays he, ' we are
to confider a book prefented to us by a bar-
barous and ignorant people, wrote in an age
when they were (till more barbarous, and, in
all probability, long after the fafts it relates,
corroborated by no concurring teftimony, and
refembhng thofe fabulous accounts which
M 3 every
l66 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
every nation gives of its origin. Upon read-
ing this book Ave find it full of prodigies and
miracles : it gives an account of a ftate of
the world and of human nature intirely dif-
ferent from the prefent ; of our fall from that
ftate ; of the age of man extended to near a
thoufand years ; of the deftrut^tion of the
Avprld by a deluge ; of the arbitrary choice
of one people as the favorites of heaven, and
that people the countrymen of the author ;
of their deliverance from bondage by pro^
digies the moft aftoniihing imaginable : I de-
fire any one to lay his hand upon his heart,
and, after ferious confideration, , declare,
whether he thinks that the falfhood of fuch a
book, fupported bv fuch a teftimony would
be more extraordinary and miraculous than
all the miracles it rtelates; which is, however
neceflary to make it be, received, according
to the meafures of probability above eita-
blifhed/ — So far Mr. Hume's reprefentatian
of the contents of the Bible*
Heply to the above by Dr. Adams.
** If the Jews were thus more than bar-
barous at the time when tliefe books were
written,
DIVIl^E GOVERNMENT^ 167
written, whepce, without a miracle, could
thej learn all the great truths relating to the
being and attributes of God, which the moft
learned part of the world were for many ages
after in total ignorance about? Whence
could the religion and laws of this people fo
far exceed thofe of the wileft Heathen, ancj
come out at once, in their firfl infancy, thus
perfect and intire ; when all human fyilems
are found to grow up by degrees, and to ripen
after many improvements, into perfe6iion ^
The Jews had but little commerce with otheif
nations, and, therefore, did not excel in th^
literary and other arts of Greece: but tliQ
fame fcriptures, \\hich prove that they werq
earlier in pofleffion of the moft ufeful and
fublimc parts of knowlege, fecured them
likewife from ever linking into that barbarity
which the author charges upon them. Let
any one compare the bopk of Genejis, which
he treats with fo much freedom, and which
is, by many centuries, the oldeft book in the
w^orld, with any of the earlieft heathen hifto-
rians ; let him compare the Plalms of Daii(^
with the Hymns of CalUmachus or Orpheus ;
let him read the hiflory of Jofeplius, who
was juil contemporary with Chriji and hi^
w 4 Apoftles;
l68 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
Apoftles ; and he will incline to judge more
favorably of this people.
" The great events recorded in this hiftory
have no connexion with the argument of
miracles, and, therefore, do not belong to
this place. But thefe are corroborated by
the ftrongeft concurring teftimony that can
be defired to fa6is that are, molt of them,
older than the ufe of letters itfelf. The tra-
ditions of every country feem all to point to
one and the fame original. The late inven-
tion of arts and fciences, the foundation of
cities and empires, the manner of peopling
the world, and the number of its prefent in^
habitants, feem all to prove that the world
had its beginning jio earlier than the period
affigned by Mofes, ahd agree perfe(^tly with
the accouijt of the deluge. There are no
monuments of antiquity which give room to
fufpe6i the world of earlier original, The
firft authors of Greece and Egypt fpeak of
the chaos, of the abyfs of waters that covered
the earth, of man's being formed out of the
ground, and of his firft innocence. From
thefe, one of the Latin poets has defcribed
the creation, the ftate of innocence, the
gradual
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. l69
gradual corruption of mankind, and the
deluge, in a manner very nearly refembling
that of Mofes. The memory of a general
flood, which deftroyed the whole race of men
and animals, except one family, feems to
have been preferved for fome ages among
almoil all nations. Lncian tells us, the tra-
dition among both the Greeks and Siirians
was, that this was a judgment from heaven
on the wickcdnefs of mankind : he defcribes
the manner of the flood, the ark in which
fome of every kind were preferved, and many
other particulars, juft as we have them in the
book of Genejis. Plutarch, alluding to the
fame tradition, mentions the ark, and even
the dove that was fent forth to fee if' the
waters were abated. A great number of
antient authors, who mention the deluge, and
give witnel's tQ the building of Babcl, the
burning of, Sodom, and jnany other great
events in the Mofaic hiftory, are reckoned
up by Jofephiis, Grotbis, and others. The
prefent furface of the earth, the Ihells of fifii
that are found in midland countries, and
even on the tops of mountains, and the re-
mains ^f land-animals at very great depths
in the earth, are fliil furviving monuments
of
170 COXVERSATIOXS OX THE
of the deluge. It is almoft certain that the
M'orlcl began to be peopled about the plains
of Babylon, and near where the ark is laid
to have refled. From the eafi, colonies of
men were fent weftward : and from tlience
we can trace pretty diilinctly the progiefs of
arts and fciences. The long lives 'of the firft
jiien are fpoken of by all the Heathens. This
fact is fo far from difcrediting the Mofaic
hiftory, that Monfieur Pafcal reckons it ^
full proof of the fidelity of the author : ' This
hiftorian,' fays he, * has brought the deluge,
and even the creation, fo near his own time,
by means of the few generations which he
counts between them, that the memory of
them could not but be ftill frefh and lively
in llie minds of all the Jewifli nation." . In
the line of tradition there are but five fteps
betwixt Mofes and the firll man. * There-
fore, the creation and the deluge are indu-
bitably true. This argument' fays he, ' muft
be acknowieged for conclufive by thofe who
apprehend its procefs.' " The longevity of
men in the firft ages fee,ms neceflary for the
better peopling the world, the invention and
improvement of arts, and for propagating re-
ligious and all ufeful knowlege, when they
dcpended
DIVINE QOVERNMENT* 171
depended wholly on tradition. And I am
perfuaded that this author cannot even in-
vent a more probable or rational account of
peopling the world than this which he aiiccls
to deride,"
You have not been deficient in bearino-
o
tiiftimony to the character of Abraham, the
friend of God^ •as he is termed by high au-
thority ; though without afcribing to him
that perfection which belongs not to him.
In taking a concubine, he did no more than
conform, to a cufiom which was very general
in thofe earlj^ times, and not difreputable.
Nor was there any thing wrong or unkind in
his difmiffion of Hagar, on the complaint of
her miftrefs and for peace' fake ; fmce there
is every reafon to believe, from the ibbfequent
hiftory of Ijhmaci, and particularly as we
fuid him afterwards joined with Ifaac in pay-
ing the lait tribute of aifeftion and duty to
the remains of his father, that neither Hagar
nor her Ion were- thrown upon the world
negie6ted and forlorn.
But you have not touched upon his obe-
dience to the di\ine command to flay his only
fon ;
172 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
fon j uhich may give us paufe ; and is by
fome much condemned ; and yet when duly
examined and undcrftood, we fhall find that
Abraham therein manifefted the nobleft prin-
ciples of piety and virtue, w orthy of the high
commendations and reward wdth which he
was honored by the almighty.
Thefe principles were a truft in the power
and goodnefs of God, in preference to every
tender feehng of nature, and every worldly
confideration that might fliake his refolution
of complying with what he was perfuaded to
be- the divine command : althousrh it was not
a blind obedience that he paid; but grounded
on the higheft reaibn. This the Apoftle tells
us, Heb. xi. 17, 3 8, 19- By faith Abraham
when he was in/ed, offered up Ifaac, and he
that had receixed the promifes, offered up his
onlif fon of ti/hom it was [aid, that in Ifaac
Jhall thf feed be called', i.e. though he had
a promii'e from God, that his pofterity was
to be derived from Ifaac, on receiving this
divine command he hefitated not to make a
facrifice of him ; accounting that God was
able to raife him up from the dead ; from
iciicnce a[fo he received him in a figure, or
ratherj
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 173
rather, as from a like condition he had re~
ceived him, as it is better rendered by Mr.
IVakeJield, referring, in thefe laft words, to
the miraculous birth- of Ifaac, when his pa-
rents were paft child-bearing, as good as dead,
as the.apoltle, Heb. xi. 12. expreffes himfelf,
in another place.
There is a fermon from thele words by
Archliiftiop Tillotfon, preached at Whitehall,
in 1686, before the princefs Ann ; entitled
on the excellency of Abraham's faith and
obedience, highly worthy of perufal; in which
after fliewing on what fohd and good grounds
Abraham a6ted, and conducted himfelf, in
obeying the divine command, and what a
pattern of piety and virtue he therein was ;
that great and good man, and eminent
preacher and teacher, makes the following
inferences from the whole : with which I
promife myfelf you will be pleafed as I have
been, as they fhew this excellent perfon's
method of reafoning, and the found and
liberal principles he goes upon. And as they
are of importance in weighing and examining
this much controverted a6lion o? Abraham,
and in vindicating the character of the father
of
174 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
of the Hebrew nation, I hope you ^ill not
be offended wilh their prohxity ; he infers
then,
*' Firjt^ Humane nature is capable of full
and clear fatistaction concerning a divine re-
velation. For '\{ Abraham had not been fully
and paft all doubt alTured that this was a
command from God, he would certainly have
fpared his ion. And nothing is more reafon-
able than to believe that thofe, to whom God
is pleafed to make immediate revelations of
his will, are fome way or other afTured that
they are divine ; otherwife they would be in
vain, and to no purpofe.
" But how men are aifured concernini;
divine revelations made to them, is not fo
eafy to make out to others ; only thefe two
things we are fure of:
1. " That God can work in the mind ot"
man, a firm perfuafion of the truth of what
he reveals, and that fuch a revelation is from
him. This no man can doubt of, that con-
fiders the great power and influence, whicli
God who nrade us, and perfectly knows our
frame,
DIVINE GOVERNMENT, 175
frame, muft needs liave upon our minds and
underflandings.
2. " That God never offers any thing to
any man's behef, that plainly contradifts the
natural ellential notions of his mind ; becaufe
this would be for God to deftroy his own
workmanihip, and to impofe that upon the
underflanding of man, which, whilft it re-
mains what it is, it cannot poffibly admit,
" For inftance, we cannot imagine, that
God Ihould reveal to any man any thing that
plainly contradifts the eflential perfe6tions of
the divine nature ; for fuch a revelation can
no more be fuppoi'ed to be fram God, than
a revelation from God that there is no God :
which is' a downright contradi6i;ion.
" Now to apply this to the revelation
which God made to Abraham concernin"; the
facrificing of his fon : This was made to him
by an audible voice, and he was fully fatislied
by the evidence which it carried along with
it, that it was fiom God.
For
176 CONVERSATIOXS OX THE.
" For this was not the firlt of many reve-
lations that had been made to him, fo that
he knew the manner of them, and had found
by manifold experience, that he was not de-
ceived, and by this experience was grown to
a great confidence in the truth and goodnefs
of God. And it is very probable the firll
time that God appeared to Ahrnham, becaufe
it "was a new thing, that to make way for the
credit of future revelations, God did fhevv
himfelf to him in fo glorious a manner, as
was abundantly to his comiclion.
" And this St. Stephen does feem to in-
finuate, Afts vii. 2. The God of glory ap-
peared to our father Abraham when, he was
in Mefopotamia. Now by this glorious ap-
pearance to him at firft, he was fo prepared
for the entertainment of after-revelations, that
he was not ftaggered even at this, concerning
the lacrificing of his own fon, being both by
the manner it, and the ailiirance that accom-
panied it, fully fatisfied that it was from
God. ^ '
" Secondly. I obferve from hence the
great and neceffary ufe of reafon in matters
of
DtVlJsE GOVERNMEI^T. If/
oF faith. For we fee here that Ahrnhams
reafon was a mighty ftrengthening and hdp
to his faith. Here were two rerelatioos made
to Abraham, which feemed to claili with oue^
another ; and if Abraham's reafon could not
have reconciled the repugnancy of them, he
could not poffibly have believed them both
to be from God ; b^caufe this natural notion
or principle, that God cannot contradict him"
felf\ every man does firft, and more firmly
believe, than any revelation whatfoev^r.
" Now Ahrahains reafon relieved him in
this ftrait. So the text exprefsly tells us, lie
reafoned with himfelf, that God was able to
raife his fon from the dead.
" And this being admitted, the command
of God, concerning the flaying of Ifaac, was
very well confiitent with his former promife
to Abraham, that In Ifaac his feed Jhoidd be
called."
So far the good ArchbifJiop.
I fhall be indulged, I know, in adding one
or two things.
.jj 1. From
178 CONVERSATIONS ON tHE
1. From the account of the divine com-
mand to Abraham to flay his Ion, of the de-
fign of it, and of the execution of it being
prevented, as the whole of it hes in the facred
hiftory, an unbiafled well diipofed mind would
conclude that the Deity thereby intended to
promote and encourage piety and virtue ; nor
could it naturally have any other tendency,
or bear any other conftruction.
2. Diflrefled as Abraham muft have been
on receiving ' fuch a command, he had no
doubts whatlbever of it being his duty to
obey it ; as he was perfuaded, and rightly
perfuaded, that God could command nothing
but what was riglit and good.
All that could be necefiary to fatisfy his
mind, was to be perfectly afi.iired that the
command came frohi God ; and that of this
he had the fullelt convi«^tiori, we have juft
now feen.
3. It is not for his own information, that
God, who knows before-hand what each per-
fon will do, makes trial of his creatures ; or
puts difficulties and ♦•ird)arrafiinents before
4 them
DIVINE GOVERNMENT* 179
them in the way of their duty; but to
ilrengthen and confirm their virtuous prin-
ciples, and make them examples, and an en-
courairement to each other.
o
4. No one can take upon him to deny that
God might thus make trial of the piety and
virtuous principles of jLbraham, without de-
nying at the fame time his power and right
to govern the' world as feems good to him,
and to fit its rational inhabitants by moral
difcipline for the feveral parts he deftines
them to a6l and fill in it ; in iliort, without
denying all miraculous interpofitions whatfo-
ever, all interference of the Deity in teach-
ing and dire6ling his creatures beyond what
they can learn from obfervations on the pre-
I'ent eftablilhed courfe of things, and the laM s
by which the natural fyftem is governed and
prelerved : A moft vain afllimption, affiiredly,
this, in mortal man, whofe ignorance is fo
great, and judgment fo weak and incompe-
tent ! which implies on the face of it, that he
is wifer than God ; which is the next ftep to
denying that there is any God at all, and
which has led not a few into that bewildered
and defolate Itate of mind, of which, and I
N 2 thank
180 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
thank you for it, at our lafl meeting, you
gave us fome wretched and melancholy ex-
amples.
You will bear with me going on, my
friends, now I have begun, in fuggefting to
you, that you have left untouched a main
difficulty, which chriftianity puts in the way
of your attempt to vindicate the divine good-
nefs, by its teaching the do6lrine of endlels
punilhments to the wicked, although you
have prepared the way for removing the dif-
ficulty, by your manner of explaining the
divine moral government under which we
are. For you have well lliewn that under
this, all events, refpecting all of us, are fo
directed and overruled, that piety and virtue,
or ol>edience to the divine laws, is its own
reward, and promotes our happinefs, and
vicej or difobedience, is its own punifhment,
and produces, mifery. And in agreement
with this our moral conftitution, we find, that
grievous and exquilitely painful as are at
times tlie fuflTerings both of mind and body
to which we are made liable by our violation
of. the. divine commands, thefe fufterings are
neverthelefs beneficial to us; we Ihould have
been
DIVINE GOVEEKMENT. 181
been worfe charafters, and lefs happy upon
the whole, without fuch checks and reproofs.
They tend to Ibften and fubdue our pride
and felfiflinefs, which are the fource of well
nigh all our mifery and wickednisfs, and force
us to fober reflection, to fee and corre6i our
evil tempers and pra6lices.
And as in our next ftate after death we
continue under the fame lawiT and diyine
moral government, we cannot but conclude
that thofe moft lafting puniihments, which
both reafon and revelation conl'pire to teach
us, will in that future fcate, await all evil
doers, enemies of God and goodnefe, muft
in the progrefs of infinite ages produce a
change and amendment in their difpofitions
and a return to virtue and goodnefs; unlefs
their Maker, by a fovereign aft of power
hardens their hearts and prevents the natural
effect of their fuflerings.
But this is fuch an idea of God, that one
would much Iboner believe there was no fuch
Being tliiin fuppoie he could be capable of
any thing of the kind, and therefore we ma}"
conclude without hefitation, that the fuffer-
N 3 ings
182 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
ings of the future (late muft have a beneficial
efiecl on the fufferers.
I would alfo further fubmit to your con-
fide ration, that as the chriftian fcriptures
alTure us that all the dead fhall be raifed to
life to be judged according to their works,
as they have dona good or evil in the preient
lite ; and do ther^lt)^ implicitly give us hope,
may we not rather fay, give us humble
affurance that the gloomy fentence of anni-
hilation will not pafs on any of our fpecies,
for we cannot entertain the thought that our
benevolent creator would bring back his
creatures to life to put them on the rack as
it were, and~make them fuffer for a time,
and then confign them to their primitive no-
thing: We may therefore make this infer-
ence, that none of the human race, however
multiplied and aggravated their crimes may
ha^te been, will be configned to fruitlefs un-^
availing fufFering and mifery for e\er, but in
the long courfe of ages, and by the difcipline
to which they will be doomed, all will be
brought to repentance, and be faved, I
muft however profefs that thofe fevere threat-
enings of the Gofpel of eternal puniiliments,
have
DIVIXP: GOVERNMENT. 183
ha-ve long lince cealed to make any impref^
fion on my mind, beitig courrterbakinced by
the contrary declarations fo frequently oc-
curring concerning; the Almighty; that he
loveth all his creatures, and is delirous that
they lliould not periih, (John iii. l6.) but
have everlafting life; that he would (J Tim.
ii. 4.) have all men to be faved and come to
the knowlege of the truth ; to be faved, i. e.
made happy, which mull imply they will be
ih in the end : As it would otherwife ar£:ue
that he has not the power to efFe6l the good
he deiires, and fo mull be dilappointed,
which is not to be fuppofed of him, who is
fupremely perfect both in power and good-
neis.
I fliall have reafon to think myfelf happy,
adds Synejlm, here riling up, if I have not
tired you all by taking up fo much of your
time, and if my remarks, all of them in feme
meafure of your own growth, may not be
judged foreign to your noble defign of vindi^
eating the ways of God to man.
Very far from it, declared Phofinus with a
countenance full of pleafure, in fmding their
N 4 . old
154 C<yif VE-BrSATIONS ON THE
did ailbciate come forward to take fuck an
important Ihare in their prefent debates ; you
have done us honour, and I will venture to
lay, have given great fatisfaction to all of us,
not merely m approving the progrels we have
made in our inquiry, but in corroborating
and illuftrating^ it with many new obferva-
tions of great moment ; efpecially in what
you have done towards relieving the gofpel
from the imputation of holding forth the
do61:rine of everlalting torments of the wicked,
a milftone which fome miftaken chriftians had
hung about it, and thereby alienated the
minds of many.
I perfuade myfelf, continued Vhotinus, that
it would have been impoffible for chriftians
to put fuch a conftruction upon the w^ords of
tiieir great Mafter, fo repugnant to every idea
"we can form of the divine Being, that men
would be condemned to endlefs fufferings for
tiie crimes of this brief paffmg ftate, if their
underftandings had not been quite overawed
and overpowered by taking, for granted that
the language and words ufed by Clirijl on
the fubjett, eternal, everlajiing, for eve?', and
tdie hke, implied an endlefs duration fo di-
rectly
DIrI^^E GOVERNMElSrT. 185
recllv and ablblutely, as to forbid all further
inquiry or doubt about their meaning.
Whereas, in fa6i, the terms generally hgnity
periods of duration, more or lefs^ extended,
and have at no time this fignification, unlefs
when determined to it by the fubje6l to
which -they are applied ; viz. God, his mercy
or goodnei's," and the like.
So that our Saviour, in ufing this language,
intended only to exprefs, that the fufFerings
of the future ftate would be of an exceeding
long duration ; thereby to inculcate and in-
force the neceffity and vaft importance of the
attention of mankind to the divine laws, and
the moft dreadful danger of violating them ;
of going out of the world under the power
of evil, malignant, ungodly difpofitions and
habits : And this from the moil benevolent
motive, that they might-be powerfully excited
to avoid thofe cxqudite fufferings and miferies
of the next ftate, which although they will
iiave an end, as we have been lliewing, yet it
%vi}l be then only, when their e\ il difpolitions
Hvdii be changed, and amended.
It
186' CONVERSATIONS ON THE
It is of importance here to be noted, that
in that fine affecting deicription of the day
of judgment, at the conclufion of Matt. xxv.
the everlajting puniJJiment exprefsly de-
nounced againft thofe who oppofed the fpread
of the gofpel, was necelTary for their own
good and that of all the world, this being
tlie means appointed by the divine Being for
the reformation, virtue, and final happiiiefs
of the human race for ever. Wherefore an
oppofition to it was of fo heinous a nature,
that no threatning could be too flrong to
deter men from it.
But we are not to conclude that everlajting
pumjhment -mtajis punitliment without end,
but only fuch as was to remain till the evil
was done away by repentance : for neither
die language ufed, nor the reafon of the
thing admits of any other fenfe. The phrafe
everlafting tire, not literally fuch, but this
moll dreadful image adopted to keep men
from that hardnefs of heart, and infenlibillty
to the temporal and eternal good of others,
which while it lafts, incapacitates for pure
happinefs both in this world and in the next.
And
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 187
And now in concludon, what has frequently
fiitisfied my own mind, on this momentous
concluding point, the final happinels of all
mankind, I cannot help propoling to your
confideration, from the fecond volume, p. 424,
of Dr. Hartley's works; a writer of fuch
compafs of mental difcernmenl, and true
chriflian philofophy, as has no competitor,
and fhall in his words clofe our converfation.
" Can it be fuppofed, that an infinitely
merciful Father will caft off his Son entirelyi,
and doom him to eternal mifery, without
farther trials than what this life affords ? We
fee numberlefs inilances of perfons at prefent
abandoned to vice, who yet according to all
probable appearances, might be reformed by
a proper mixture of corre^lion, in{iru6fion,
hope and fear. And what man is neither
able nor willing to do, may and muff, as
iliould feem, be both poffible to God, and
a6fually effected by him. lie muft have
future difcipline of a feverje kind for thofe
whom the chaflifements of this life did not
bring to themielves. Yet ftill they will all
be fatherly chaflifements, intended to amend
and
188 CONVERSATIONS ON TIIE
and perfect, not to be final and vindi6iive.
That the bulk of iinners are not utterly in-
corrigible, even common obfervation iliews,
but the Hiftory of Affociation makes it Ititl
more evident ; and it feems very repugnant
to analogy to fuppofe that any fmners, even
the very worft that ever lived, fhould be
hardened bej-ond the reach of all luffering,
of all felhfhnefs, hope, fear^ goodwill, grati-
tude, &c. For we are all alike in kind, and
do not differ gi'eatly in degree here. We
have each of us paffions of all forts, and lie
open to influences of all forts ; fo as that the
perfons a. and b. in whatever different pro-
portions their intelleftual affeftions now exilt,
may, by a fuitable fet of impreffions, become
hereafter alike.
" Thefe, and many fuch like reafonings,
muft occur to attentive perfons ujpon this
fubje6i:, fo as to make it highly unfuitable to
the benevolence of the Deity, or to the re-
lation which he bears to us, according to the
mere light of nature, that infinite irreverlible
■ miiery, to commence at death, iliould be the
punilhment of the fins of this life. And by
pu rilling
DIVINE GOVERNMENT, ISQ
purfuing this method of reafoning, we iliall
be led fiiTt to exckide mifery upon the balance,
and. then to hope for the ultimate unlimited
happinei's of all mankind/'
CO]SI^
190 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
CONVERSATION THE LAST.
THE fubje6ls of the former converfations
occupied the attention of the company for
fome time at the next meeting, when it was
obferved to Marcellmus, that in a former
converfation *, when he w^as pointing to the
caufes of the great miferj and wickednefs
wJiich are complained of in the world, he
had named one with which Revelation alone
acquaints us, viz. the baneful influence and
interference of an Evil Being, called the
Devil or Satan, in the affairs of men ; but
had hnce been wholly filent about it, as if it
were a thing deferving no coniideration.
It feems to me, obferved here Synefius,
that it is not to be thus flightly pafled
over For although you, Marcellmus^ have
fatisfaftorily proved, that nature rightly
underftood holds forth only good ; that the
pains and fufiferings, at which we murmur fo
* Page \?.3.
loudly.
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. IQl
loudly, are kindly intended and in general
beneficial to us, and we iliould not be fo
happy as we are at prefent without them;
and even lin and wickednefs are by the divine
wifdom and mercy converted to good ; never-
thelefs, as revelation is generally underftood
to teach, and the gofpel in particular by
many aflerted to be founded upon the reality
of fuch an Evil Being, and fuch unqueftion-
ably has the appearance of being a principal
agent throughout the New Teftament ; how
much foever the thing may be made light of ,
by fome as utterly improbable and incon-
fillent with every idea we can form of the
divine goodnefs, your vindication of that
goodnefs will be lame and defective, unlefs
you can Ihew the infufficiency of thefe pre-
fumed divine authorities to prove the exift-
ence of fuch a foul malignant fiend, which
not a few chriitians with great earneftnefs
uiamtain.
As therefore you have done me the favour
to take in good part the remarks I prefumed
to offer in the difculfion in which you are
engaged, I fhall be happy if the thoughts
which I liuve with Ibme diligence put toge-
ther
192 COXVERSATIOXS O'N Till:
ther on the prcfent fubjecl, meet with joui
approbation.
The compan}^ expreflfed high fatisfaclion,
and Sijncjius continued his addrefs.
It is foraewhat extraordinary that in the
hiftory of the tranfgreHion of the firft parents
of mankind, at the beginning of our facred
books, it Ihoiild be fo very generally current
with the learned as well as the unlearned,
that by the ferpent, who is reprefented as
milleading them to violate the command of
their maker, we are to underftand, a wicked
fpirit, the fuppofed enemy and oppofer of
God, and author of all evil ; when at the
fame time, ]\Iqfes, who gives us the account
of the tranfaftion, never intimates that it is
fo to be underltood, in this, or in any other
part of his writings.
Neither, it is obfervable, do the learned
jewifli writers, who were contemporary with
the apoillos of Chrilt, and whole Svriting>
happily i*emain, give into this interpretation ;
but generally fuppofed the ferpent to fignify
men's depraved appetites and paffions, or
8 what'
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 19')
•vhatever, in their fituations, could move and
entice our firfl parents to do evil and fni
againft God.
That Mqfes himfelf did not intend to de-
fcribe the evil being called the devil, to have
deceiv^ed Eve under the Ihape of a ferpent,
appears farther from his never making men-
tion of fuch an evil being as having any
exiitence at all then, or alluding to it after-
wards in the 'five books afcrib^d to him.
Whence we may reafonably conclude that he
did not know or believe that there was
any i'uch powerful mifchievous being, who
had connexion with mankind ; becjiule, bad
he known it, he would not have failed to
apprize his nation of it, and warn them of
their danger from him.
We muft own indeed, that there is men-
tion made of devils, in Leviticus xvii. 7
where it is faid, They Jhall no more offer their
facrijices unto devils ; after whom they have
gone a whoring ; and in Deuteronomy xxxii.
17. we read. They facrijiced unto^deVih, not
to God ', to gods whom they knezi) not, to new
gods that eame^ nezdy up, whom your fathers
o feared
194 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
feared not. This however, in either cafe, is
not the language of Mqfe$j but of his tranl-
lators ; who, knowing thefe to be the names
of heathen gods, whom they took to be evil
fpirits, on that account gave them the name
of devils f inflead of preferving their true
names, which they ought to have done.
The word ufed in the original, in the firft
inftance, tD^^V^, foirm, fignifies goats, hairy
beings, the facred animals of Egypt, wor-
{hipped by them with the mod obfcene rites.
The other name in Deuteronomy, tD''1ti^,
fdim, is from, a root that (ignifies to defolate,
to lay wafte, to deilroy, a proper charaSleriftic
of the gods of Canaan, who were of later
date, fuppofed to be deceafed kings and
mighty warriors, who were worfhipped by
human facrifices, and with whom the Ifrael-
ites had become more lately acquainted ; and
for their compliance in this horrid worlliip,
they are here and elfewhere feverely reproved.
See particularly Pfalm cvi. 37? 38. Yea, they
facrificed their fons and their daughters unto
devils, (DHJi^, fdim, demons, dead men dei-
fied \\ andjhed innocent blood, even the blood
of
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 195
of their foil s and their daughters, whom they
Jkcrificed unto the idols of Canaan *.
It is not to be paffed over here, that
familiar fpirits are fpoken of in the books
of Mofes, and other parts of the facred
hiftorj. And as this is prefumed to have a
reference to devils and witches, ignorant per-
fons may thereby be impofed upon to think
there is fome reaUty in fuch things. But it
fliould be told them, that the term familiar
fpirit, has nothing to anfwer it in the ori-
ginal, but was put in of their own heads by
the learned men employed in the laft tranfla-
tion of the Bible by authority, in the time
o^ James I. foon after he came to the throne,
to favour fome notions of the king-'s about
thefe matters ; and in complaif uice to him
alfo in this refpedl, the laws of the country
were made more fevere againft the fuper-
ititious pra6tices of force ry artd witchcraft.
We are told that king James hinilelf came,
* Levit. xix. 31. XX. 6.
Deu't. xviii. 11. 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 7, 8, 'J.
3 Kings xxi. 6. xxiii. 24. '
1 Chron. X. 13. 2 Chron. xxxiii, G.
Ifaiah viii. 19. xxix. 4.
o 2 off
196 CONVERSATIONS ON THJL
off very much from thefe notions in his elder
years ; yet as a wife and excellent perfon
obferves *, from whom I have this account ;
" when Laws and tranflations are fixed, it is
a difficult thing to change them."
It may be necefifary here to obviate a
common prejudice, that the Hebrew word
Satan, to which correfponds the Greek word
hx(3oXpg, diaholiis^ by which it is generally
rendered in the Greek verfion of the Old
Teftament; that thefe words (land for the
fuppofed evil being, as his proper name ;
which is by no means the cafe. For in their
firft and proper fenfe, they fignify an enem}^,
adverfary, calumniator, or the like ; and to _
this fenfe we Ihall always do well to adhere,
unlefs the circumflances of the paffage de-
mand the contraiy.
Thus Numb. xxii. 22. we read. And God's
anger was kindled hecaiift he (Balaam) went;
and the angel of the Lord Jiood in the waij
for a^. adverfary (Satan) againfthim. 2 Sam.
xix. 22. And David f aid, What have I to
t See Dr. Hutchinfon on Witchcraft, pages 178,
179, 180.
DIVINE GOVEJIKME.NT. 197
do With you, ye fons of Zeniiah, that ye
Jliould this day be adverfaries (Satan) iniio
me. In thefe and any the like paffages,
every one will judge for liimfelf, whether ahy
thing more is to be imderftood than the plain
conftruftion of the words implies, widiout
any farther reference.
1 Chron. xxi. \. xlnd 2 Sam. xxiv. 1* An{l
fl/i adverfary (Satan) again the anger of
Jiood up againjt If-- the IjOud was ki?idled
rael, and provoked againjl Ifrael, and he
David to number If moved David againfl
rael. them to fay. Go, num-
ber Ifrael and Judah^r
The parallel paffages explain each other.
Satan, provoking David to number Ifrael,
was the advice of an enemy ; the fiiggeftions
of pride and vain confidence in the ftrength
and power of his dominions, and of odious
ingratitude to God in leaving him, to whom
all was owing, ottt of his thoughts, and out of
the account.
Zeclmriah iii. 1, 3* And he ffiewed me
Jolhua the high priejt, Jianding before the
o .3 angel
19B CONVERSATIONS ON THE
angel of the Lord, and Satan ftanding at
his right hand to rejiji him. And the Lord
faid unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O
Satan, even the Lord that hath chofen
Ifrael rebuke thee.
Jofliua the high pried is in this paflage
ftirred up to let about the building of the
temple under the promife of divine afTiftance.
The Samaritans (Prideaux, Vol. i.) who op-
pofed the building, are ftyled Satan the ad-
verfary. Probably the prophet meant no
more by the Lord, Jehovah, fpeaking to
the adverfary, than that Jehovah would re-
buke and re(i:rain him.
Archbidiop Newcome, in his Tranflation
of the Minor Prophets, fliews, that in this
paffage, the term Satan fignifies only adver-
fary^ without any reference to an evil fpirit.
Job 1. ii. Satan being never mentioned
but in the introduftion to this poem, would
feem to be a fiftitious perfonage ; a kind of
poetical embellidiment of the piece. Pie is
moreover not chara6lerized as an evil beins: ;
not tempting or feducing to evil, only afking
lea^e
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 199
leave to iiiflicl pain and misfortune, thereby
to make trial of Job's piety and virtuous
principle. x\nd Job and his friends through*
out afcribe his calamities to God immedi-
ately ; and feei^i to have had no thought of
an evil being, Satan, whom they never name,
nor drop any hint of his agency in human
affairs.
I have now confidered all thofe pafiages ,
that feem needful to be produced, and are
fuppofed to exhibit and hold forth the exift-
ence and agency of an eVil Being iii the
Jewiih fcriptures, but have not found that
they exprefsly teach, or that it is to be
gathered from them, that there is any fuch
being. And it is no fmall confirmation that
thefe fcriptures have been rightly interpreted
by us, as we perceive not in them any reli-
gious exhortations or cautions to beware of
the wiles and power of fuch an evil being, in
their facred hiftory and prophetic writings,
from fir ft to la ft.
Now, as in the chriftian fcriptures, in
which fo much is fpoken of the devil, of
fatan, and the evil one, it is certain that we
o 4 have
200 C-ONVEllSATIOXS ON THE
have no new revelation of the reality of the
evil being who is iiippofed to be defcribed
under thel'e different names ; and it has been
ihevvn that the Jews could not take the opinion
which they appear to hold of fuch a being in
the time of Ciiriit, from their own facred
bookij ; it follows, that it muft have come
among them, during their difperfion and
captivity in Babylon. And moft probably the}'
learned it of the Chaldeans, among whom
they dwelt; whofe early reception of this
6lo6trine is teftified by many antient authors.
And that this was an opinion of great an-
tiquity in the eaft is confirmed by the pro-
phet Ifaiah xlv. xlvi. where he fpeaks of
Cyrus, king of Perfia, many years before
he was born, as the future reftorer of the
Jewifli temple, in terms of alluFion to their
eaftern doftrine of Two principles of all
things, a good and evil one ; but in fuch a
way as eile^fually to fet alide and confute
their error, by allerting that evil as -well as
^i;ood came from God alone.
Ifaiah xlv. ver.' 8. / form the light and
create, darhiefs : I make peace and create
evil : I the Lord do all thefe things.
The
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 201
The Ifraelites, ever prone to adopt the
prmciples and pra6iices of their heathen
neighbours, fojourning among iheie Chalde-
ans, famous lor fcience and natural know-
lege, would moft probably learn of them
and adopt the notions of their conquerors ;
who might point out to them, or they might
themfelves imagine, that the ferpent who is
reprefented as a6ting fuch a principal part in
their own facred hiilory, was^ the evil prin-
ciple of the Chaldeans, and thence they
would proceed to afcribe to it all the lin and
mifdry that was in the world. ^
It may be prehimed alfo that by their
conftaat intercourfe and communication with
this learned people they imbibed their whole
philofophy concerning demons, and good ajnd
evil fpirits, as ,well as the exigence of one
chief evil fpirit : So that at their return frora
their long captivity in Babylon, they had
incorporated thefe doftrines into their theo-
logy, as being thofe of their own facred
writings, although thefe writings not only
taught diem nothing of the kind ; byt con-
tinually condemned them. And although
by the time that Chriit made his appearance,
i thev
202 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
they were much come off from fuch a hea-
thenilh doctrine, yet their language, which
had been framed and accommodated to it,
would remain in common ufe, and to that
our Saviour and his' apoftles would confirm
themfelves, though there be no good reafon
to think that either the one or the other gave
credit to the reality of this evil being.
It being however thus the popular belief,
that all fm and evil was from Satan, the
devil, or the evil one, the apoftles of Chrift
having to defcribe how and by what hard
trials and temptations their great Mafter*s
piety and virtue were exercifed and ftrength-
ened, to fit him for his arduous and impor-
tant office of Saviour and Reformer, endowed
with extraordinary divine powers to qualify
him for it : According to the accounts of
Matthew and Luke, who alone mention this
lingular tranfaction, it is Satan, the devil, in
conformity to the general creed that all evil
was from him, whom they defcribe as the
agent in this Trial or Temptation of Chrift :
AVho is reprefehted as employed in endea-
vouring to corrupt his virtue and integrity,
by drawing him from his truft and dependence
upon
DIVINE GOVERNMEXT. 203
upon God alone, and prompting him to make
ufe of his miraculous powers to gratify his
own vanity and worldly views : Although no
evil being whatlbever was concerned in the
matter ; which we are compelled to conclude
from the utter improbability of the literal
account, but which may otherwife be fatis-
faftorily accounted for.
Let us then take into confideration our
Lord's fentiments concerning Satan.
1. We may obferve that Chrift very com-
monly ufes the words Satan, Devil, in their
proper and primary fenfe, as fignifying an
enemy, adverfary, traitor, or the like ; and
not an evil being.
Matth. xvi. 23. But he turned and /aid
unto Peter, Get thee behind me,
Satan ! thou adverfary. Archbp.
Newcome.
Mark viii. 33. He rebuked 'Peter, faying.
Get thee behind me, Satan ! thou
adverfary. Archbp. Newcome.
John
204 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
John vi. 70. Jefus anfwered thnn^ Hate
not I chofen you twelve, and erne
of you is a devil ; and yet one of
you is a falfe accufer.
2. There is no ground to conclude from
Chrift fometimes uling the terms, Satan, the
Devil, the evil one, as lignifying the fuppofed
evil being, that he would thereby imply, or
have others underftand hmi to imply, that
there was in reality fuch an evil being.
This we learn from himfelf, in very many
pafTages of the gofpel hiftory.
Among others, I would mention his reply
to his difciples on their return- from a com-
piiifion in which he had been employing
them, to preach the gofpel of repentance
and remiffion of fms, in his life time. When,
upon their telling him with exultation, that
by the power they derived from him, they
had been enabled to heal difeafes, which in
thofe times were afcribed to demons ; Luke
X. 17> 18. And the feventy returned again
with joy, faying. Lord, even the demons are
fubject. unto us through thy name ; He laid
unto
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 205
unto them, I beheld Satan as hghtning fall
from heaven. In this anfwer, he foretels
for their encouragement, the farther happy
effecls which would attend the preaching of
his gofpel.
To fall from heaven, (fee that fine defcrip-
tion of the king of Babylon, to which there
is allufion, Ifaiah xiv. 12.) is to be deprived
of power and authority. How was Satan to
lofe or be deprived of his power and autho-
rity by the preachiAg of the gofpel, which
is calculated to change and to cure men's
wicked and evil difpofitions, but cannot have
any effeft on Satan an inviflble, powerful,
wicked being, fuppofnig there were any fuch ?
As this, then, as a thing impoffible, we are
unavoidably led to underfland our Lord as
.expreffing himfelf in the well known eaftern
ftile, to which his difciples and countrymen
were accuftomed, and to fpeak of Satan, as
a pei'fon, or living agent, when he thereby
only meant thofe felfiih worldly defires, that
hatred of God and goodnefs. Which are fup-
pofed to charafterize fuch a being. There
is then, by Chrift's own interpretation,' no
fuch evil being as we call Satan or tlie Devil.
And
206 CONVERSATIONS ON TUt
And Satan, or the Devil, is not a powerful
evil being without us, but impious, malignant,
cruel tempers and difpofitions within us,
which lea^ us to fm againft God, and to hurt
and deftroy the peace, virtue and happinefs
of our fellow-creatures.
3. This our Lord's fentiment of the nul-
lity of Satan or the devil, or the evil one,
we find confirmed in other paffages.
Luke viii. 12. The devil cometh and taketh
the word out of their hearts.
iVIatth. xiii. IQ. The evil one cometh and
fnatcheth away that which was
fown in their hearts.
Matth. xiii. 39- The enemy that foweth ihe
tares is the devil.
Mark iv. 15. Straightway cometh Satan and
taketh away the word which was
/own in their hearts.
Satan, the devil, the evil one that enters
into men's hearts in thefe inflances, can mean
nothing
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 207
BOthing but thofe evi] paflions and worldly
defireS, which exliriguifh the love of God, of
truth and virtue in the hearts of men.
John xiii. 3. — the devil having now put it
info the heart of Judas Ifcariot,
iSimon's/o/i to betray him.
37. And after the fop, then Satan en-
tered into him.
Luke xxii. 3. The?i Satan entered into Judas
Ifcariot.
Pride, malice, difappointment in thofe
worldly views which had led Judas at firft to
become one of Chrift's difciples, and morti-
fication and revenge at finding the wicked-
nefs of his heart difcovered ; thefe were the
Satan, the devil that entered into and rankled
in the bread of this moft unhappy man, and
excited him to betray his beft benefa6tor and
friend, who anxioufly fought to make him
good, into the hands of liis enemies. For
^hi^ black ingratitude he very foon openly
condemned
208 CQNVERSATIOXS OX THEr^
condemned hlmfelf with bitterell remorfe,
" I have finned in that I have betrayed the
innocent blood/' ' Matth. xxvii. 4. In this
declaration he furniflies a ftanding, perpetual
teftimoriy to the unlpotted excellency of our
Lord's private character; to the reality of
the miracles afcribed to him, and to the
truth of his religion, hardly to be refilled,
which muft pleaib and afte6l every rational
enquirer and lover of truth,
All the other inftances in which our Lord
ufes the term Satan, Sec. admit of an eafy
explanation.
John viii. 44. The devil is your father^ and
ye willingly perform the lufts of
your father. He teas a man-flayer
from thefrji, and continued not in
the truths becaufe there is no truth
in him.
A /layer of menl in being the caufe of the
death of the firft progenitors of the Inmian
race.
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 209
race. An allufion to the common opinion of
the fall. Gen. iii. 5. /
liuke xiii. l6. A?id ought not this woman, a
davghter of Abraham, whom Satan
had hound, lo ! thefe eighteen years,
to he loqfed from this bond on the
fahhath day ?
In the popular language of the Jews,
difeafes and infirmities were attributed to
Satan. See alfo ABs x. 38. ^
Luke xxii. 31. And the Lord /aid: Simon,
Simon, heholdl Satan hath ob-
tained leave tojiftyou all like wheat.
Our Lord warns his difciples of a great
and dangerous trial being near; an allufion
to the hiftory of Jo^, i. 9 — 12.
Matth, XXV. 41 — 46. Then will he alfo fay
to them on his left hand: Away
fro?n me ye curfed I into that ever"
lajiingfire, prepared for the devil
and his angels.
u
ere
210 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
Here is a reference to feme fabulous florv,
and moft probably of heathen origin ; for
there is no mention in the Icriptures of any
fuch beings, as a devil and his angels, except
in this (ingle paflage ; for which, had there
been any juft foundation, it would not have
been named in this paflage only, and in fuch
an incidental way.
We find the prince of the powers of the
air alluded to in Bplief. ii. 1. According to
the Prince of the powers of the air, which
Archbilhop Newcome tranflates, according
to the powerful ruler of the air; and then
adds ; St. Paul adopts this del'cription as well
known to Jews and Gentiles without averting
its truth ; as much as to fav, accordins: to the
head of evil fpirits, whom you Ephtiians
Ipeak of under "this chara^er. This points
to the do6trine of evil fpirits being a heathen
doctrine, as we know from other fources, to
which our Lord might allude in.tlie paflage
' before us.
It has alfo been ^ ably Ihewn liy a Frengh
writer, in 'Bekkcr otAmfterdan/s works, that
the tranflation of Ju(/e; ver. 6, fliould be, not
'8 the
i>IVi;tfE GOVERNMENT. 211
tile angels, but the meJf&ngerSyyi\\o,^^\,^XiQt
their firit eftate, &c.
And alfo the parallel palfage, 2^Pet. ii./^.
ftiould be, not if God fpared not the fingels,
but the meffengers which finned, call them
down , to Hell, &c. And the fame writer
has clearly proved, that there is no re-
ference here to fallen angels, but to the
hillory of the perfons fent out by Mofes to
fpy out and make report gf the land of Ca-
naan ; and to their falfe and wicked account,
fo as to difcourage their countrymen from
obeying the divine command.
The Apoftles of Chrift, like their great
Mailer, . feem not to have underilood that
there was any devil, or evil being withqut
them, whom, men need to be afraid of, but
only evil paffion^ and worldly defires,^ and the
wickednefs into which thefe lead them.
Adis V. 5. Theji /aid Pete?' : Anmiias, why
hath Satan jill^d thy hmrt ^o Re-
ceive, th^ holy fpirit ?
Here Satan was .the viiey fraudulent and
avaricious delires that pofleiTed him.
P % A6ls
212 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
A6ts xiii. 10. 0 full of all gfdle, and of all
craftincfs ! Son of the Devil I
enemy of all lighfeouftefs. i. e. re-
fembling fuch a fuppofed being, not infti-
gated by him.
Romans xvi. 20. — and the God of peace will
quickly trample Satan under your
feet : i. e. bad men, his inftru-
ments,] according to Dr. Whitby ,
the perfecuting Jews.
1 Con V. 5. — to deliver fuch an one to Satan,
See Luke xiii. l6. 2 Cor. xii. 7- i Ti?n.
i. 20. An allufion perhaps to Job being put
into Satan's power to infli6l fuffering upon
him to a certain degree. Some bodily difeafe
was to be inrii6ted, to bring the offender to
repentance. This mode of puniftiment how-
ever was confined to the age of miracles. See
Archbilhop Newcome upon the place.
2 Cor. xi. 14. And no 7x:onder ; for Satan
himfelf putteth on the appearance
of an angel of light. Perhaps St.
Paul had in view, Job i. 6.
Eph.
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 213
Eph, iv, £7- — neither give place to the devil,
or as it is in Mr. fVakeJitld's tranf-
lation, nor give any room to the
accufer.
vi. 11. — -Jland againji the wiles of the
devil, or, againft the de^ ices of the
accufer.
1 ThefT. xi. 18. Satan hindered us : i. e.
wicked men, inftruiiients of evil.
2 Theff. xi. 9- — according to the working of
Satan ; — the operations of evil,
with fraud and delufion and falie
miracles.
1 Tim. iii. 6, 7.
2 Tim. ii. 26.
In thefe two paiTages the fnare of the devil,
fhould be rendered, the fnare of the accufer,
1 Tim. V. 15. — for fome have already turned
ajide after Sataji] that is, fome
women have behaved ill.
p 3 1 Peter
214^ CONVERSitfl'dN^ O^fU^
4
1 Peter v. 8. Yottr adverfaryihe devil walkelA-
about feeking whom he may devour;]
That is, fpies and informers who
accufed then\ before the heathen
magiftrates,
1 John ii. 13. Ye have overcome the wicked
, one, by the po\yer of chriftian
principles.
iirchbiibop Newcome * and Mr. Wakefield,
the two laft tranflators of the New Tefta-
ment,
* It is highly to the credit of Archbifhop Newcotne, that
he leaves out of his tranflation of the New Teftament,
the fpurious text, I John v. 7. of the three heavenly
witnefles, the Father, the word, and the holy ghoft, with-
out any referves or intimations, as if the dq^rine gene-
rally held to be contained in that text, >vas fupported by
other pafTages of Scripture ; gYid that, at the fame time,
he gives fuch a clear and intelligible explanation of the
v?li6ie paffagt as fiiews that he himfelf made no fuch con-
cfiifions from it.
It is not to be doubted, that if it had pleafed the divine
providence to fpare Mr. Watefield's fnoflf vahiable-life,
he Would have availed himfelf of the Archbifho^'s verfion
in his own projefted new edition, as the Archbidiop
had profited by his improvements. Indeed the pious and
lafeful labours of this excellent prelate in illuflrating tl^e
facred
DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 215
ment, in their juft and rational interpretations
of the facred vohnne, have not found it
neceflary to bring in a fuppofed great evil'
fpirit, or being, to Iblve the accounts that
are given of the Devil or Satan which it con-
tains, as the whole is more eafily and naturally
explained by cohfidering theie terms not as
defcriptive of any peribn or thing without us,
but as referring to thofe wicked paffions and
tempers within us, w hence all evil proceeds.
And thefe being fufficient to account for the
whole, it is wrong to feek or require any
other caufe.
So that the Devil or Satan is not any per-
fon or thing without us, but felfifli, j^alous^
envious, malignant, cruel, impure, fraudulent,
facred volume, defcrvc particular attention. And it is a
great advantage in the prcfcnt age, that irom the verfions
now given ot the fcriptures by perlons of great eminence
in learning, every engiifh reader may attain to a compe-
tent and fatisfaflory knowlege ot divine truth. It may be
recommended to all families, who ufe the vulgar tranf-
lation made under the aufpices oi .lames the firft, to cor-
reft the prejudices wliich they have been led into from
its \arious pervcrfions of the text, by comparing together
this trail flation with fomc other of our m-jie valuable
modern verfions.
V 4 ambitious.
2l6 CONVERSATIONS ON THE
ambitious, cleiires and tempers indulged in
us, and which tempted our firil parents to fm
and difobej the divine commands, and have
unhappily induced their poflerity in all ages
to follow the lame evil courfes.
As to the interference of any evil being or
fpirit of a nature and powers fuperior to man-
kind, we may not fcruple to allert, from the
declarations in our facred books, that there
are no fuch evil beings or fpirits who have
any concern with human affairs. All fuch
beings, who are recorded at any time to have
had influence over mankind, have been of
heathen device and invention, as has before
been pointed out ; fuch, for infcance, as St.
Paul fpeaks of in his epiille to the chriftians
of Epbefus, by the phrafe the Prince of the
powers, of the air, one of their objects of
worfhip.
In all times, the more ignorant mankind
have been of the one great author of nature,
and of his works, and of thofe holy writings
which make farther revelation of him, the
jHQore have they been found to be addi6led
to fuch bhnd and baneful fuperftition.
The
DIVXKE GOVERNMENT. 217
The fum of what has been faid, is to vin-
dicate the Scriptures from the imputation of
teaching the exiftence of a wicked Spirit,
called the Devil or Satan, by flieM'ing there
is no fuch being, but that the evil that is in
the world is produced from men's evil paffions
and difpofitions, which are therefore called
his works.
There is therefore no evil in the world but
what takes its rife from men themfelves :
Nor any devils but fo far as men extremely
wicked and abandoned may deferve the name.
i\nd to uphold fuch evil beings is to en-
graft heathenifm upon chriftianity *.
To
* The Rev. Thomas Belfham, my honored and much
efteemed friend, has in an able general way, in his Review
of Mr. Wilbcrforce's Treatife, p. 34, fhewri the falfity
of the opinion vulgarly entertained on evil fpirits, and in
his convincing manner, proved it to be contraiy to tlie
principles of philofophy and the imiform tenor of the
fcriptufes. The whole work is admirably calculated to
remove various other errors.
The world is alfo indebted to the fame author for a late
publication intitkd " Elements of the Philofophy of
the
218 CONVERSATIONS, Scc.
To thefe conclufions the. whole company
gave their hearty concurrence, and after fome
converfation, repeated their thanks to Sj-
nefius for the clearnefs with which he had
fummed up this fuppofed intricate queftion.
Thefe repeated friendly conferences here
ended, and the party then feparated to return
to their refpeftive homes, and duties, more
fully imprefled with jtheir obligation as Chrif-
tians, to ftudy the word, and works of God,
to add pra6lice to knowlege, and to commu-
HJcate to others that light and truth, which
lead to eternal life.
the mind," where candor to his opponenis, and a clear
expofuion of his own fyflem, evince his fuperior talents,
and the deep piety of his own mind ; both of which, with
a moft. exaft critical knowlege of the fcriptures, qualify
him as a moft eminent public teacher.
INDEX.
INDEX.
Page
ABRAHAM, call of . . 7 1
greatnefs of his charafter - - 72, 7S
blemifhes in it - - - 75
vindicated - - - 17 1
opinions of Archbifhop Tillotfon on his faith 173, 177
defigns of God in his trial - , 178, 179
Angels, fallen - - -. . ^11
Animals, goodnefs of God towards « 42
c.
Canaanites, extermination of - • 80
not unconditional . . • 84<
expedience of "• • - 85
neceflity for - - - 156
Chriftianity, reafons for its httle progrefs 162
Xhriftians have imitated idolaters * H
Clafke, Samuel Dr. endeavoured to reform the church S
D.
Devils, term improperly ufed in the tranflation of
the Pentateuch • - 193
E,
fjernity, of punilhment - . 180
in what fenfe true - . -182
meaning of terms eternal, &c. in fcripture 184
Eternity,
INDEX.
Page
Eternity, opinion of Hartley - 187
Eve, temptation of . - - 65
Evil permitted - - - 142
origin of - - - 143
Evil being, Satan or Devil, enquiry into his exift-
ence and interference - 190
not known to Mofes - - . 193
^vhence the notion derived - . 200
no reafon for fuppofmg that our Saviour taught
the exiftence of this evil being 204 — ^210
nor his apoftles - - 211
what the devil really is - - 216
important- conclufions on the nature of evil 217
F.
J^rance might have been brought to the worfhip of
one God - - _ 3
its hoflility to the chriilian religion accounted for 5, 7
G.
Gody plain old argument for belief in - 18
goodnefs of, towards aftimals » 42—48
towards man - - 49 — 52
difFjculty with refpeft to his government 124
removed from the confideration of his charac
ter - - - 125—128
of the praftice of mankind - 129
important propoHtions relative to his govern-
ment - - - 132
mode of his aftions - ' - 144
imperfeftion in our language concerning them 147
immutably good - - 155
God,
INDEX.
God, not compofed of feveral perfons 157
plain argument that he is only one peribn . 161
Gofpel, fiifl effeft of the - - 98
inftances of early departure from - 99
forged on the confciences of men by intolerant
and perfecuting chriilians _ 104
I-
Intolerance of Mohammedans - 102, 103
of Chriftians - - - 104
how to be cured - _ . 105
Ifforts made to deflroy it ^ - - 109
M.
Man, the creature of aflbciation and habit
6-J
taught by God ~ - -
(
56
moral ftate of
-
60
hiftory of from revelation
-
62
ftate of Antediluvians
-
67
under the divine moral government
..
113
praftice of, not confiftent with his duty
116
general charafter of -
120
not a mere machine -
148
not the work of an envious being
15S
Miracles, province of ' -
;•; 1^
argument of Mr. Hume>ftated
165
confuted - - -
167-
-171
Mohammed, to what his fuccefs is to be attributed
99
intolerant fpirit of - -
100
fatal confequences of his zeal
lOS
Nature,
INDEX.
N.
Nature, what it is - • 14<
couKe of - - - 16
in fearching after nature, fome lofe fight of ks God 17
Philofophers of France oppofe religion why 7
fome good men oppofe it from other caufes i2 1
PluraUty of perfons in the godhead falfely main-
tained - - 159, 160
R.
Revelation favourable to the interefts of mankind 9
made known by Mofes and our Saviour, forms
one lyltem - - . 10, 11
Satan, meaning of the term - 196 — 20G
ufed in a popular fenfe by the apoftles 202
Scriptures indited in the befl manner - 154'
Shaftefbury, Earl of, inquiry into his charafter S6
his fenfe of the prefence of the Deity -27
pubhfhes Dr. Whichcot's fermons - 29
his prejudices againft facred perfons and things 32, 33
his opinion of miracles - - 87
letter to a young clergyman - 3S
poflefTed of a good difpofition, with great defefls 40
Socrates, chara6ler of - - 87
a martyr ' - ^ , 90
Socrates,
INDEX.
Page
Socrates, not without faults - - 91
vindication of - . - 92
Spurious text in the firft epiftle of John, rejefted
by the Bifhop of Lincoln - 15S
and by Archbifhop Newcome - 2 1*
T.
Tranfiation of the Bible corrupt, and how to be
corrected - - 2 15
THE END,
FRJNTJCD BV »YX AN» LAW, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, CtKRKENWEH,.
TtibliJIied by the fame Author.
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